The first initiative will be a feature on pirelli.com, looking back at the fifty most significant Grands Prix from Pirelli’s time on the F1 World Championship trail. Naturally enough, it starts with the very first round of motor racing’s blue riband category, the British Grand Prix held at Silverstone on 13 May 1950. 21 cars lined up on the grid that day, with eight of them running on Pirelli tyres. They included the top three finishers, all Alfa Romeos, with the Italians Nino Farina and Giuseppe Fagioli taking the flag ahead of the English driver, Reg Parnell. It was the first chapter of Pirelli’s long and ongoing history in Formula 1, which this year will see the Italian company become the tyre supplier with the longest record in the sport.
 

The actual distance has increased compared to 2023, thanks to the addition to the calendar of the Emilia-Romagna and Chinese Grands Prix which accounted for a further 27,016.375 kilometres. The percentage of kilometres completed on the slick tyres has remained pretty much unchanged at 93.59%, while there was an increase in use of the Cinturato Intermediate from 5.67% to 5.84% for a total of 19,566.862 km. The Cinturato Extreme Wet was used a bit less, going from 0.64% to 0.57%. Of the slicks, the lion’s share inevitably was down to the C3, as this compound was selected for every event, although in percentage terms it dropped from 36.57% to 32.06% compared to last year. Yet again, the C4 was the second most used compound (23.47%) while for third place, at 16.84% the C5 overtook the C2 (14.97%) and the C1 was once again the least used in 2024 at 5.56%. Some of these changes in the data are down to the fact that, for the races in Melbourne and Interlagos, the decision was taken to go with a softer trio of compounds than the previous year, going from C2-C3-C4 to C3-C4-C5. 
Not included in the above numbers is the data relating to prototype tyres. They were used for 2,306.944 kilometres, fewer than the previous year because in 2024 they were only used for the in-competition test at Mexico City, while last year they were used in Friday free practice in three events – Barcelona, Suzuka and, as this year, Mexico City.

The prize for the longest stint on a single set of tyres goes to Pierre Gasly, who completed 300.150 kilometres (50 laps) in his Alpine in Baku on a set of C3s, designated as the Hard at this Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc takes the honours for the longest distance travelled on a set of C2, completing 43 laps of the Jeddah track, equivalent to 265.525 kilometres. George Russell travelled furthest on a set of C4 (256.949 km, 77 laps) in Monaco, while Nico Hulkenberg completed 242.763 km, 57 laps, at Zandvoort. Yuki Tsunoda did 28 laps of the Singapore track, equivalent to 141.820 kilometres and Racing Bulls’ Japanese driver also takes the award for the longest stint on a set of intermediates (191.844 km) in Montreal, while his team-mate for the final six races of the season, Liam Lawson, went further than anyone (81.871 km) on one set of Extreme Wets.

Pirelli supplied the teams with a total of 8,016 sets of tyres. Of these, 2,718 were never used. The extreme wet and intermediate tyres were subject to a “strip-and-fit” policy which meant that tyres fitted to rims but never used, could be stripped and refitted for use at other rounds. In 2024, this meant that around 3500 fewer tyres needed to be produced. 935 sets of slicks, equivalent to 11.66% of those produced, were fitted to rims but never saw the track. In addition, a further 948 sets (11.82%) completed between one and three laps: for the most part, these are sets used in qualifying or in flying lap simulations, but the issue of more efficient tyre usage during the race weekend remains on the table.

Of all the 2024 races, the Japanese Grand Prix saw the most tyre changes: there were 46 pit stops in Suzuka. While at the other end of the scale, there were only 19 pit stops in Jeddah. Actually, the quietest Sunday in terms of action in pit lane was in Monaco, where thanks to a red flag on the opening lap, all the drivers were able to make the obligatory change of compound during the interruption, so that after that, there were only a further seven pit stops.

If there was a prize for the hottest race of the year, at least in terms of air temperature, it would go to Interlagos, with 35.6 °C recorded during Sunday’s race. In contrast, Silverstone’s temperatures ranged from 10.9 °C, rising to 13.9 °C in the race. As for track temperatures, there were some old favourites and some newcomers compared to 2023: the prize for the hottest goes to the Hungaroring with 58.6 °C, although the race in Imola saw a surprising 52.5 °C. The coldest bit of track overall was Silverstone (12.8 °C) while during a race, Las Vegas was coldest at 16.8 °C.
 

For Norris it was career win number 4, while it is McLaren’s 189^th from 970 Grands Prix entered. Piastri avoided being lapped by his team-mate and is thus the only driver this season to have completed 100% of the total laps (1444) and kilometres (7314) of the 24 Grands Prix this season.

Ferrari finished second in the Constructors’ championship, with the most podium finishes (22) of the season, ahead of McLaren and Red Bull with 21 apiece.

Kevin Magnussen, who drove his last Formula 1 race today, set the fastest lap, the third time he has done so, following on from Singapore 2018 and 2019, all at the wheel of a Haas.

Red Bull finished the season third in the Constructors’ standings. It is the first time since 1983 that the team that took the Drivers’ title finished outside the top two in the Constructors’: on that occasion, Nelson Piquet was champion and his Brabham team finished third.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

On the starting grid, 19 of the 20 drivers were on the Medium with only Hamilton opting for the Hard. The one-stop strategy proved to be quickest: of the top ten finishers, only Fernando Alonso (eighth for Aston Martin) made a two-stop work. Piastri also pitted twice but that was as a result of a collision with Verstappen at the first corner on the opening lap.

The longest stint overall was delivered by two specialists in this field, namely Alex Albon and Nico Hulkenberg, who did 45 laps on a set of Hards. As for the Medium, the prize goes to Max Verstappen, who split his race exactly in two, doing 29 laps on the C4 followed by the same number on the C3.

The C5’s appearance in the race came courtesy of Magnussen, who clearly only fitted it in order to set the fastest race lap, which he did both on his first set, used for a total of 25 laps and then on the second, fitted just for the last two laps.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“First and foremost, congratulations to McLaren on winning the Constructors’ title and well done too to Ferrari for having pushed them all the way to the very end, which made for a very exciting finale, full of suspense to really entertain the fans.

“It was the best way possible to end a very busy season, the longest ever in Formula 1 history. For our part, we believe we met the expectations of the teams and the other major players in this sport, the FIA and Formula 1, who are our most important “customers”. We did it by providing a reliable and high-performance product, which also delivered the desired effect of unpredictable racing. In fact, it’s no coincidence that this season has been. Well balanced between races where a one-stop strategy worked best and those where a two-stop was more effective, thus meeting the objectives we had been set.

“As for today’s race, we saw less graining than during Friday free practice, and even then it had little impact on performance. Degradation was also very limited, so much so that the one-stop was clearly the most effective strategy, even with many different divisions of stint lengths. Verstappen for example stopped at exactly half-distance, while others like Gasly and Hulkenberg stopped very early and then managed to finish in the points. We still have one more task to complete this year. This coming Tuesday, we will be back on track here at Yas Marina for a very important collective test. All the teams will be able to evaluate five of the six compounds homologated for 2025, the exception being the C1 which is not suited to this track. Furthermore, we will be supplying 2024 tyres for the usual rookie end of season test.”

Gabriel Bortoleto is the 2024 FIA Formula 2 Champion. The Brazilian, who makes his Formula 1 debut next year with Sauber, took the title in his debut season in the category, repeating his achievement last year in Formula 3. Bortoleto’s second place in today’s race means his Invicta Racing team has taken the teams’ title. The race was won by Paraguay’s Joshua Durksen (Aix Racing) with Dutchman Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport) third.

The final round of the second F1 Academy season exceptionally had three races, making up for the one that had to be cancelled last week in Qatar. Abbi Pulling put the title to bed as early as Friday qualifying by taking the points for pole position for all three races, putting the total out of reach of her only rival, Doriane Pin.

The Englishwoman, driving for the Alpine team went on to win the first and second races and finished second in the third one; an amazing season in which she scored 338 points, always finishing on the podium. She had nine wins, four second places and one third. The French Mercedes drivers was second on 215 points, with three wins, while third in the standings was the Dutchwoman Maya Weug (Ferrari) on 177 points, with one win, secured today at Yas Marina. The teams’ title went to Prema Racing on 423 points. 

COMING UP NEXT FOR OUR TYRES

All ten teams will stay on at the Yas Marina circuit for a very busy group test on Tuesday 10 December. They will each field two cars: one for a rookie, defined in the FIA sporting regulations as a driver who has taken part in no more than two Grands Prix and the other car for another driver. The two groups will run very different tyres: the rookies will have the same 2024 compounds as selected for this Grand Prix, while the regular or official drivers will run the homologated versions of all Pirelli’s 2025 tyres, developed over the year with the teams, with the exception of the C1 which is not suited to this track.

The rookies will have eight sets of tyres each: two C3, four C4 and two C5. The other drivers will have ten sets: one C2, three each of the C3 and C4, two C5 and one C6, the latter being the new ultra-soft compound which thus extends the 2025 range. It is expected that this compound will be used at some street circuits next year. Unlike the in-competition test run at the Mexico City Grand Prix, this time Pirelli will not set out its own run programme for the 2025 tyres. Therefore, each team can work as it sees fit to collect data that will be vital to car development for next year. Furthermore, no cars are allowed to run components that have nnot been used in a race weekend. For this test, the C2 and C6 will feature just the Pirelli logo coloured white and red respectively, while the C3, C4 and C5 will run the usual white, yellow and red bands respectively, alongside the logo.

There are two Ferrari power units on the second row, the one fitted to Carlos Sainz’s car, his time of 1’22”824 just 20 thousandths off Piastri’s and the other in the back of Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas (1’22”886).

This was Norris’ ninth pole: his first came in Sochi in 2021 and the remaining eight were all this season. The Englishman and Max Verstappen therefore top the list for the most poles this year, but it’s the Dutchman who tomorrow will receive the 2024 Pole Position of the Year Award thanks to his additional three poles in Sprint Qualifying, compared to two for Norris.

Norris was presented with the Pirelli Pole Position Award by Terry Crews. The former American Football player is now a successful actor. In the comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine he plays the role of the Lieutenant of the detective squad and he also appeared in all the films in “The Expendables” series. The actor has promoted the #MeToo movement and, 2017, was nominated as one of the “silence breakers” who were given the “Person of the Year” award by Time magazine.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

The C3 made its first appearance of the weekend during the third free practice session. The compound chosen as the Hard was used by the two Racing Bulls drivers, Yuki Tsunoda completing 9 laps and Liam Lawson 10 and by the Aston Martin pair, but in this case Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll just went through their usual scrubbing-in procedure. The green team drivers also did the same with a set of Mediums, as did Lewis Hamilton and George Russell for Mercedes. The C4 was also used by Carlos Sainz (13 laps) and Max Verstappen (9 laps) while all the other drivers only ran the Soft, this compound being the only used throughout qualifying.

MARIO ISOLA - PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“A very close qualifying, the closest of the year, given that in Q1 just 803 thousandths of a second covered all 20 drivers: only in Zeltweg was there a smaller gap from first to last (0”798) but that was on a track that is 963 metres shorter than this one. The close contest pushed the drivers to make the most of the Soft, which while delivering very good performance, only did so on the first flying lap. The track conditions were more or less stable throughout the sixty minutes of qualifying, so what made the difference was mainly the difference in grip levels between a new set and a used one, even if they had only done one timed lap. 

“Regarding strategy for tomorrow’s race, a single stop, running the Medium and then the Hard is, on paper, the fastest choice, with a pit stop window between laps 18 and 24. Those starting further back might want to extend a first stint on the Hard, pitting between laps 29 and 35. There are however three factors that could open the door to a two-stop race: possibly greater degradation than we have seen so far, a neutralisation, or more plausible, drivers who find themselves in traffic deciding to pit early to try and exploit the clear advantage of having a new set of tyres for the first few laps after the stop. This could trigger a chain reaction, leading teams to switch to a two-stop strategy. That was the case last year, when all the teams with the exception of the Racing Bulls had kept two sets of new Hards.”

Obviously the Medium tyre was the only choice for all 23 drivers (Kimi Antonelli did not take part) in the final Sprint race of the season. The yellow banded tyre provided good overall grip and an acceptable level of thermal degradation, which was more accentuated on the rear, but still manageable over the Sprint race distance. The win went to Spain’s Josep Maria Marti (Campos Racing) ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto (Invicta Racing) and Paul Aron (Hitech Pulse-Eight), while the third contender for the 2024 title, Isack Hadjar (Campos Racing), finished sixth. This result means that only Bortoleto or Hadjar can be crowned champion, currently separated by 5.5 points.

THE DAY ON TRACK

There were no fewer than six young drivers on track for the first session: Arthur Leclerc for Ferrari, Felipe Drugovich for Aston Martin, Ryo Hirakawa for McLaren, Isack Hadjar for Red Bull, Luke Browning for Williams and Ayumu Iwasa for Racing Bulls. Fastest of this group was the Brazilian Drugovich, ninth overall in 1’25”471.

Today’s lap times were considerably quicker than those from free practice last year, proof of the progress made in performance terms with these cars over the past twelve months, given that the tyre base line has remained the same: 1”751 the difference for FP1, 1’292 for FP2.

SIMONE BERRA – CHIEF ENGINEER

“The final round of the season said something about how much quicker the cars have become in the space of a year. The improvement in performance is significant when one considers that parameters such as the track and the tyres have remained unchanged. That can be seen from the fact that today’s best time is already 72 thousandths faster than Verstappen’s pole time of last year (1’23”445).

“The other important data concerns the use of the compounds. For the fourth time this season, after Sakhir, Melbourne and Las Vegas, no driver used the Hard tyre over the two hours of Friday free practice. It’s a clear indication of how the C3 is definitely considered the main tyre for Sunday’s race by the teams. Furthermore, we saw that most of the drivers who did a long run, opted for the Medium. One can therefore begin to draw the conclusion that a one-stop strategy, using one set of Medium and one of Hard, must be favourite, with the second set of Hards on hand in case of a Safety Car or if degradation is greater than expected.

“Other interesting aspect from today are graining, which varied from team to team, but not in a particular impactful way, especially as degradation is also quite low, and then the track evolution, significant in FP1 before settling down in FP2.”

Victor Martins will start the final Feature Race of the season from pole position. The Frenchman was 55 thousandths faster than championship leader, Brazil’s Gabriel Bortoleto, who outqualified his other two rivals in the classification, Estonia’s Paul Aron, third, 68 thousandths off Martins and France’s Isack Hadjar (fourth at 0”128). This weekend will decide the outcome of both the Drivers’ and Teams’ championships for 2024, both with three contenders. They will be able to choose from a different pair of compounds to those used last year. an additional challenge for the drivers and engineers to deal with as they try and get the most out of the Supersoft and the Medium over the various stages of the weekend. Along with the organisers, the decision was taken to create this bigger gap between the two compounds, compared to last year’s Soft and Medium selection in order to make the choice of specification for the start of the Feature Race even more of a factor. Although the Supersoft will be subject to significant degradation, it will offer a considerable performance advantage over the opening laps. On paper, the fastest strategy involves lining up on the grid with the Medium to go for the longest possible first stint, but any possible Safety Car period in the early stages would put those who have gone with the opposite choice a good chance.

Having secured three pole positions, Abbi Pulling (Alpine-Rodin Motorsport) can once again celebrate winning the 2024 F1 Academy championship. Albeit by the smallest of margins, her only rival Doriane Pin (Mercedes-Prema Racing) can no longer catch her. The addition of a third race in Abu Dhabi, to make up for the one cancelled last Sunday in Lusail had actually put the title for the all-women series back into play. However, today Pulling did not delay in confirming her superiority, setting the three fastest laps of the qualifying session, the best being a 1’56”081, thus picking up the points for securing pole for tomorrow’s two races and the third one on Sunday. Chloe Chambers for Haas-Campos Racing (1’56’’201) will be alongside Pullin on the grid for race 1, and waiting for the lights to go out from row two will be Hamda Al Qubaisi (Red Bull Racing-MP Motorsport) and Bianca Bustamante (McLaren-ART Grand Prix). The new F1 Academy champion was presented with her Pirelli Pole Position Award tonight by content creator Tuesday Le Roux.

This was the 63^rd win of Verstappen’s career, the second out of three editions of this Grand Prix, while for Red Bull it was win number 122. Piastri took his tenth podium finish today from 45 race starts. 

THE DAY ON TRACK   

All the drivers opted to start on the Medium tyre with the exception of Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) who went for the Hard. As expected, the one-stop was the preferred choice for all teams. Apart from those drivers involved in collisions on the opening lap, who had to pit immediately, everyone tried to extend the first stint on the Mediums as much as possible, getting to over half-distance. There were a few exceptions: George Russell (Mercedes) pitted after 23 laps, Valtteri Bottas switched to the Hard on the following lap and Kevin Magnussen (Haas), pitting after 27 laps. For the rest of the field, the run of pit stops began on lap 34, some coming in when the race was neutralised, to switch to the Hard tyre. Hulkenberg had already pitted to take on Mediums after lap 30. 

The Safety Car made three appearances. At the last two, the chance to pit costing less time, induced Williams and Racing Bulls to gamble on the Soft, but it did not pay off, as the characteristics of this track meant the C3 proved to have too much of a drop in performance.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“As expected, this was a very busy weekend for us. In today’s race there were two front left tyre punctures on Sainz’s and Hamilton’s cars. As per procedure, we will now analyse in detail the damaged tyres, as well as a selection of other tyres. Along with the telemetry data we have acquired and on-board footage from the cars, they will be sent to our laboratory in Milan. In addition, we will carry out all the usual checks on the stresses to which the tyres were subjected.

This track has some rather peculiar characteristics: it is very severe in terms of the energy exerted on the tyres and in terms of tread wear, while not leading to a drop in performance. Clearly, this combination of factors can create a situation in which wear levels reach their limit, while the teams however try to lengthen the stint as much as possible in order to get the best possible result and we saw that confirmed today.

In yesterday’s Sprint, in some cases the level of wear had reached 100% on cars that had started with about one third the fuel load they took on board for today’s start. At this track, the left front is the tyre subjected to the greatest load and it’s no coincidence that both punctures were on this tyre. When you reach a certain level, then even the smallest piece of debris can cause a situation like the one we witnessed today.

As for the rest, the performance levels of the most used compounds – the C1 and the C2 – were very similar and, as mentioned earlier, with hardly any degradation. Therefore, the level of tyre management required was practically zero, with the drivers able to push as much as they liked, even though they were in fact running a one-stop strategy.”

The 2024 drivers’ title will go down to the wire at the final round in Abu Dhabi, with the two leaders, Gabriel Bortoleto (Invicta Racing) and Isack Hadjar (Campos Racing), separated by just half a point (188.5 for the Brazilian and 188 for the Frenchman). Today, they both finished on the podium in third and second places respectively. Ahead of them, the winner was Estonia’s Paul Aron (Hitech Pulse-Eight) for whom this was his maiden victory in the category. 

As for the tyres, the Medium-Hard strategy was the most successful. Those who opted to go the other way round, for example Oliver Bearman (Prema Racing), who was leading up until the last two laps, were penalised by the many neutralisations, which meant that many of the drivers who had started on the Medium, were able to minimise time lost during their pit stop. The difference in warm-up and degradation between the compounds produced a spectacular race with plenty of overtaking.

With no parc ferme between the Sprint and Qualifying, the teams were all able to modify their set-up and car configuration to improve performance. This appeared to alter the hierarchy, with Red Bull back in front. Eighth in the Sprint, his worst ever result in the short race format, Max Verstappen secured pole position for tomorrow’s Grand Prix, beating Russell right at the end by, just 55 thousandths of a second: 1’20”520 for the Dutchman and 1’20”575 for the Englishman. The Red Bull driver was later given a one place grid penalty for having been deemed by the Stewards to have driven unnecessarily slowly on a cool down lap in Q3. Max therefore stays on the front row, but it’s Russell who will start from pole. The McLaren duo had to settle for the second row with Norris ahead of Piastri, both of them ahead of their direct rivals Ferrari in the fight for the Constructors’ title, with Charles Leclerc starting fifth and Carlos Sainz seventh, Lewis Hamilton splitting them in sixth.

This was Verstappen’s first pole position since the Austrian Grand Prix and it ensures that he tops the table for poles this season, with nine, as in second place on seven, Norris can no longer beat him. The four time world champion will receive the 2024 Pirelli Pole Position of the Year Award, next Sunday at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Tonight’s pole was Max’s 41^st, and Red Bull Racing’s 105^th. 

THE DAY ON TRACK 

For the Sprint race, 19 of the 20 drivers started on the Medium, the one exception being Guanyu Zhou who lined up on the Softs, before switching to the C2 after 10 laps. Starting from pit lane, Franco Colapinto was the only driver to use a completely new set, while Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc were on sets that had only done one scrubbing-in lap in yesterday’s FP1.

For qualifying, all drivers used the Soft. The only yellow mark in the graph that shows the compounds used in each session came courtesy of George Russell who, at the start of Q1, imitated what the Ferrari duo had done the previous day, scrubbing in a set of C2s.

The Pirelli Pole Position Awards was presented to Verstappen by Qatari high jumper Mutaz Barshim, a three-time world champion (London 2017, Doha 2019 and Eugene 2022). He also won gold in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, sharing the honour with Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi. The “Qatari Falcon” as Mutaz is known, has three other Olympic medals to his name: silver in London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and a bronze in Paris in 2024. His personal best is 2.43 metres, an Asian record in this discipline.

MARIO ISOLA - PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“A very busy Saturday, as always on a Sprint weekend. The short race allowed us to check the behaviour of the Medium over a long distance and, from what we have seen so far, the indications from yesterday – very limited degradation, signs of wear and graining but not to any worrying degree – would seem to have been confirmed. We saw just one driver try the Soft in the Sprint, whereas last year there was a greater variety of choices made and so it is difficult to draw any definitive conclusions, as the data comes from just the one car. The Sauber driver’s choice highlights that the C3 requires very careful management if its life is to be extended for any sort of significant stint. 

In qualifying we saw that track evolution slowed down, stabilising in the second half. More significant was the impact of the wind which gradually reduced in strength, especially in the last part. The relatively low temperatures around 18/20 °C for both air and track, led to drivers taking different approaches to the flying lap. Some went for the classic out/timed/in while others did a preparation lap and still others, Verstappen in Q3 for example, doing just one run with two cool down laps. It is worth underlining the progress in lap times, not just the 3”258 improvement on last year with the same tyres and technical regulations, but also when compared to 2021 when the cars weighed almost fifty kilos less and Hamilton’s pole for the inaugural edition of this race was a 1’20”827. 

Based on today’s data, the one-stop option is looking even stronger. It’s true that in the Sprint we saw some cars reach the limit in terms of tyre wear but it did not cause a significant drop in performance. Furthermore, the track characteristics with no really heavy braking points, makes overtaking rather complicated, especially if cars find themselves in a DRS train as we saw in the Sprints, both F1 and F2. The Medium should be the favoured choice for the start, with a pit stop to take on Hards in a window between laps 16 and 24. Those starting at the back could run the two hardest compounds the other way round, while those considering a two-stop could decide to make the most of the better performance on offer from the Soft in the very early stages and then continue with two sets of Hard or possibly, one Hard and one Medium.”

Oliver Bearman won the penultimate Sprint Race of the FIA Formula 2 Championship. The English Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy driver, is already sure of an F1 seat with Haas next year, having taken part in three Grands Prix this season. In his Prema Racing car, he started from pole and got the better of a duel that became ever more intense over several laps with Isack Hadjar, who then dropped out of contention for a podium finish having led for much of the race. The pair had gone for different tyre choices: the Englishman started on the Hard and Campos Racing’s French driver with the Medium. He then paid the price for this aggressive choice when his performance dropped in the final quarter of the race. The second and third spots on the podium went to second placed American Jak Crawford (DAMS Lucas Oil) and in third, Dutchman Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport).

Abbi Pulling is the second champion in the two year history of the F1 Academy. The Englishwoman has secured the 2024 title with three races in hand, thanks to finishing second this evening. The Alpine-supported driver racing with the Rodin team, drove a clever race, maintaining her start position acquired in yesterday’s qualifying, from lights out to chequered flag and that was all she needed to take the title. The other podium positions also replicated the starting order with the win going to France’s Doriane Pin (Mercedes-Prema Racing) while third place went to Dutchwoman Maya Weug (Scuderia Ferrari-Prema Racing). Pulling thus follows in the wheel tracks of Marta Garcia, last year’s winner of the all-woman series of which Pirelli is the sole tyre supplier.

This was Russell’s third win from 126 Grand Prix starts, his second of the season after the first in Spielberg. Mercedes topped every session this weekend on the way to their 60^th one-two finish, the last one dating back to Brazil two years ago, again with Russell winning from Hamilton.

With four titles, Verstappen now joins, Sebastian Vettel and Alain Prost in fourth place on the all-time championship winners list, which is headed by Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher on seven titles apiece, followed by Juan-Manuel Fangio on five. Strangely, this is the second time Max has won the title on a Saturday, having won it last year after the Sprint race in Lusail. It is Red Bull’s eighth Drivers’ title, all under the leadership of Christian Horner, in charge since its maiden season in 2005. The team is fourth in this particular category behind Ferrari (15), McLaren (12) and Mercedes (9).

THE DAY ON TRACK   

Temperatures were slightly higher for the race, both ambient and track, compared to the previous days at 18/17 °C. On the grid, the vast majority of drivers opted to start on the Medium. There were four who chose otherwise: Alonso on Softs, Perez, Bottas and Colapinto, the latter starting from pit lane, on Hards. Almost all drivers made two stops, preferring to get the most out of the tyres, especially the two sets of Hards they had kept for the race, rather than trying to manage them, especially in the first stint.

As is so often the case, the laurels for the longest stints went to three specialists in this discipline, Kevin Magnussen and Esteban Ocon both completing 33 laps on the Hard, while Valtteri Bottas did 18 with the Medium.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“First of all, congratulations to Max Verstappen on his fourth world title, an incredible achievement for a youngster who has only recently turned 27. Well done too to Red Bull, as this is the eighth time one of their drivers has been crowned champion. After the start of this season seemed to be following the same pattern as last year’s, Max had a tough time of it, but fought hard race after race, even though he did not have the most competitive package, proving to be an extraordinary champion.

“Congratulations must also go to Formula 1 for having put on an amazing event here in Las Vegas, full of sights and sounds and above all, a great show on track which definitely proved popular with the crowd of over 300,000 spectators who came to the track over the weekend and the millions watching on television and on-line.

“As for tyre performance, it was not a particularly clear cut Grand Prix, starting with the strategy choices. Prior to the race, the one-stop was clearly the quickest option but in the end, almost all the drivers pitted twice, if we leave out Norris who made an additional stop to go for the point for setting the fastest race lap and Ocon, who preferred not to take any risks at the end. From an initial analysis of the data, this was due mainly to the fact that several drivers chose to push hard right from the start without giving too much thought to tyre management. As a consequence, some of them therefore suffered more than expected with graining and were forced to make their first pit stop earlier than planned, which triggered a chain reaction which bit by bit pushed everyone towards a two-stop, especially as they knew they could count on two sets of Hard tyres, which was without a doubt the most competitive compound for the race.

“On average, the level of performance degradation was relatively low on both the Medium and the Hard, and so too was wear. Clearly some drivers suffered with degradation more than others, especially on the C4, but a one-stop was still doable if the tyres were managed carefully. The result was an action-packed Grand Prix with plenty of overtaking and wheel-to-wheel battles which was great for all the fans of this wonderful sport.”

COMING UP NEXT FOR OUR TYRES

Formula 1 now heads to the Middle East for the final rush of the season. Next weekend it’s time for the Qatar Grand Prix, at the Lusail circuit, followed a week later by the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina track. All five compounds will come into play over these two final Grands Prix: Qatar will feature the three hardest compounds in the range – C1, C2 and C3, while the C3, C4 and C5 will be on duty in the United Arab Emirates. Both events also feature the last two rounds of the FIA Formula 2 and F1 Academy championships.

The balance between the teams has been very close throughout this 2024 season and there was further confirmation of that tonight, with the three quickest drivers coming from three different teams: behind Russell in the Mercedes (1’32”312) comes the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz (1’32”410), followed by Pierre Gasly in the Alpine (1’32”664). Seven teams were represented in the final phase of qualifying, the absentees being Sauber, Williams and Aston Martin, although the first two of those did at least get one driver into Q2.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

In the third free practice session, the Medium and Soft compounds once again did the bulk of the work, even if Mercedes, Aston Martin, Racing Bulls and just Zhou for Sauber started the session by scrubbing in the two sets of Hards allocated for this event. The Chinese driver also scrubbed in a set of Mediums, as did the Aston Martin duo and Russell, the latter actually waiting for his first Q3 run to scrub in a set of C4s.

With temperatures only just creeping over the 10 °C mark, preparing for the flying lap was predictably one of the most important factors in deciding the outcome of qualifying and that proved to be the case. In fact, teams adopted various different approaches to this task, especially in Q3: for example, the Mercedes pair and Verstappen chose to immediately go for a flying lap, while the Ferrari and McLaren duo opted for an additional preparation lap.

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to George Russell by Gianluca Conte, known on social media as QCP (Queen City Prince). The Italian-American content creator is one of the best known food influencers on TikTok where he explains how to prepare Italian dishes to around 13 million followers. QCP has recently published his first recipe book, with the title “Italian/American.”

MARIO ISOLA - PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“A spectacular and very closely contested qualifying, the teams evenly matched, producing surprises from start to finish. As was easily predictable, the track is still very dirty and it gets significantly quicker with every passing lap. As previously mentioned, this aspect, combined with the preparation phase prior to the flying lap, played a very important role in determining the outcome of the session.

“In terms of strategy, on paper a one-stop is clearly the quickest, with the Medium and Hard the obvious choices. It’s true that no one has really used the C3 so far this weekend, but this compound is absolutely the one the teams know best and it was also extensively tried here in Las Vegas last year. It is therefore no coincidence that all the drivers have kept two sets of the C3 for tomorrow night’s race: they will definitely use one, while the other can be regarded as a back-up in case the race is neutralised, which is always quite possible on a street circuit. As was the case last year, the majority of drivers will start on the Medium before switching to the Hard as from lap 14. Those going for a more cautious approach, especially if they have been relegated to the back end of the grid, could opt to start with the Hard, going past the halfway point before pitting for Mediums. It’s difficult to imagine the Soft coming into play, apart from anyone planning right from the start to go for a two-stop, to make the most of the Hard with a clear track ahead.

“Graining will make itself felt, especially in the early stages, partly because, as we saw today, track conditions will again be reset as the track will have been reopened to city traffic.”

Six teams are represented in today’s top ten: the aforementioned Mercedes and McLaren, plus Ferrari, Alpine, Haas and Racing Bulls. A surprising omission is Red Bull with Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez 17^th and 19^th respectively.

THE DAY ON TRACK

The first free practice session saw 18 of the 20 drivers use both the Soft and Medium compounds. The only exceptions were the Red Bull pair who chose to focus entirely on the C5, using two sets. In the second session, the Hard again failed to show on track, confirming the teams’ plans to keep both available sets for the race. There was just one red flag period, a very different scenario to this time last year, caused by Alex Albon having to park his Williams at the side of the track with a technical issue. Apart from Albon, all drivers worked through the usual FP2 programme, finding the best set-up for both qualifying and over a longer distance, especially evaluating the behaviour of the Medium tyre. Hamilton and Magnussen were the only ones to do a long run on Softs.

SIMONE BERRA – CHIEF ENGINEER 

“It was a very productive day, because the drivers were able to run continuously for all of the available two hours, gathering plenty of information and data on how the cars and tyres are behaving on an unusual track and in very different atmospheric conditions to normal.

“Obviously, the track was very dirty and performance improved dramatically the more the cars ran. The same will be true for the rest of the weekend, as is always the case on street circuits, especially those such as Las Vegas and Monaco, where the roads are reopened to normal traffic once the day’s track action is over. It’s hard to imagine that the level of grip, that was very low today, will stabilise: it will improve constantly, even over the course of the race. We saw a significant improvement in lap times compared to last year: Hamilton’s 1’33”825 is almost one and a half seconds quicker than Charles Leclerc’s 2023 time of 1’35”265 and only just over a second off the Monegasque’s pole time of 1’32”726.

“As for tyre behaviour, it should be stressed that the Hard looks like being the compound best suited to the race, paradoxically because nobody ran it today. As regards graining, the very low temperatures saw it appear on the Medium and Soft, especially across the front axle, but from what we have seen today, it was only on the surface of the tyres, therefore without having much effect on wear. In these conditions, the cars suffer mainly with understeer and one of the key points of the weekend will be to balance the set-up as well as possible. Also to be kept in mind is how much the front tyres will cool down on the longest straight: today we saw an average drop of around 35 degrees Centigrade at the braking point for turn 14.”

Also on the podium were both Alpine drivers, with Esteban Ocon second and Pierre Gasly third. The last time two Frenchman finished in the top three was at the 1997 Spanish Grand Prix when Olivier Panis (Prost-Mugen Honda) was second and Jean Alesi (Benetton-Renault) was third, preceded by another French speaker, Jacques Villeneuve (Williams-Renault).

THE DAY ON TRACK   

Track action began at 7.30 with qualifying, put back from yesterday because of the adverse weather conditions. Once again today, the rain played its part, with no drivers able to use dry weather tyres. The extreme wet featured in the first part of qualifying, before the Intermediate came into play. There were no fewer than five interruptions caused by drivers crashing, in a session that therefore lasted almost an hour and 45 minutes, with the rain varying in intensity several times.

The race was rescheduled to start at 12.30 and apart from it being red flagged towards the halfway mark because of heavy rain reducing visibility to a precarious degree, it went ahead with just a few Safety Car appearances. Over the 69 laps (the race distance was reduced by two laps due to the two aborted start procedures) the Intermediate did the lion’s share of the work. Only five drivers – Perez, Lawson, Tsunoda, Zhou and Hulkenberg – also used the Extreme when the rain got heavier, but then the red flag reset everything, and for the restart the Intermediate was clearly best suited to the track conditions. There were 33 tyre changes, including those under the red flag and a total of 51 sets were used, five of them for extreme wets. Of the drivers who finished the race, only four used two sets of Intermediates, namely Valtteri Bottas and the three drivers who finished on the podium.

Following a similar event at the Imola Grand Prix, the Sao Paulo Grand Prix provided another opportunity to remember Ayrton Senna in the thirtieth anniversary year of his tragic death. Pirelli contributed by producing a special edition of the Pole Position Award, presented to Lando Norris by Ayrton’s niece, Bianca Senna, the director of the eponymous institute, as well as a special version of the iconic Podium Cap. Both items featured the gold and green colours of the Brazilian flag, along with the Senna logo. Bianca is the daughter of the three-times world champion’s sister, Viviane, who founded the non-profit organisation that has been involved in supporting educational projects for Brazilian children and teenagers for the past thirty years.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“What can I say, that was a really busy Sunday! It’s true it has happened before that we have had qualifying and the race on the same day, even in this period since Pirelli has been the Global Tyre Supplier to Formula 1. But never before has it taken place so early in the day and in such a compressed time format, with many of the Formula 1 family hearing their alarm clocks going off well before dawn! I feel we should applaud all those who made it possible to ensure that the entire weekend programme was completed, despite the weather complicating matters since yesterday afternoon. There was an extraordinary crowd of almost three hundred thousand spectators at Interlagos and I’m sure that they and all those watching on television and on the various social platforms were rewarded with a very exciting show, both in qualifying and the race. They would have experienced a whole range of emotions, which is often the case when rain come along to lower adhesion while highlighting the skills of the drivers. From a technical point of view, we leave Interlagos having picked up plenty of useful information. In today’s qualifying we saw both the extreme wet and intermediate tyres at work and could therefore clearly verify their operating windows. In the race, there was a point when one could have made a direct comparison between the two types of tyre over a long stint, but in fact the neutralisation caused when visibility was deemed too poor, meant we only saw this for a handful of laps. One should also bear in mind that the rain varied in intensity several times and on a brand-new track surface, the grip levels in the wet were very limited, partly due to the oily layer that it created. All things considered, I believe both tyres proved to be up to the job in hand.”

COMING UP NEXT FOR OUR TYRES

There are now three weeks until the start of the triple-header that will bring the curtain down on the 2024 season. It begins with the second edition of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, from 21 to 23 November on the street circuit laid out around the famous Strip. For this round, set in the Nevada desert, the third Grand Prix to be held this year in the USA, the dry compounds chosen are the same as here in Sao Paulo, namely, the C3 as Hard, the C4 as Medium and the C5 as Soft.

Before Las Vegas, Pirelli is heading to Magny-Cours on 13 and 14 November, for another test session for the 2026 tyres. With the help of the Alpine team, this will be a test of the first prototype rain tyres.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

The Sprint Race was run in the dry, with all drivers opting for the Medium compound and only Gasly (Alpine) and Lawson (Racing Bulls) going with a new set of the C4. The 24 laps were run at quite a fast pace which tested the tyres on a track surface where temperatures, while not reaching the very high figures seen in yesterday’s free practice, still exceeded the 40 °C mark. Thermal degradation on the Medium proved to be manageable, but at the same time it reached wear levels close to if not in excess of its limit. This meant that the drivers could push hard without seeing a significant drop in performance. Track conditions continued to improve with every passing lap and, as for graining, the front axle saw a reduction in this compared to yesterday’s free practice, while at the rear it remained stable.

MARIO ISOLA - PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“It’s such a shame that the rain meant qualifying could not take place and I feel very sorry for all the amazing spectators who packed the grandstands at Interlagos with their usual great enthusiasm. However, the track conditions were not safe enough to allow the cars to run, after which the visibility factor came into play. Postponing the session to tomorrow is the logical and sensible solution.

“The Sprint Race was very interesting, because even if there was not much overtaking, there were plenty of good battles, especially among the top four. All the drivers ran the Medium compound, as was widely forecast going into the event. Now, all the teams have a very useful reference point to help define the best possible strategy for the race, although there are other factors they must consider. The first and most obvious one is the weather, with the forecast currently predicting a higher chance of rain than today for the afternoon. The second is the possible effect of today’s rain on the new Interlagos track surface. There is the possibility that in the event of a dry race and/or qualifying, then grip conditions could reset to where they were initially.

“In terms of strategy, clearly we can only make predictions in the case of a dry race. From what we saw today, a two-stop is the most realistic option, both in terms of overall race time and the amount of tyre management required to complete it. In theory, the one stop, using Medium and Hard, could be attempted but we do not feel it is advisable given the wear levels we saw in the Sprint on the Medium. Clearly, the teams were able to make adjustments to limit wear but the data we have so far is equally clear and anyone going down that route would be taking an unnecessary step into the unknown.

“As I said earlier, the two-stop is preferable, using various combinations of Medium and Hard. Keep in mind that each driver has one new and one used set of C4 and two new sets of C3. The C5 could also come into play, for a possible final stint, especially if the temperatures are lower than yesterday’s.”

The final triple-header of the season gets underway in the Nevada desert with the second running of the Las Vegas Grand Prix. The street circuit, built around the Strip, hosts the third and final Formula 1 race of the year to be held in the USA from 21 to 23 November. Racing under floodlights, the drivers will be able to choose from the three softest compounds in the range (C3 as Hard, C4 as Medium and C5 and Soft). The same trio will be used for the final round in Abu Dhabi, from 6 to 8 December at the Yas Marina circuit.

In between these two events, Formula 1 stops off in Qatar, where it has already raced in 2021 and 2023. This year’s race takes place all most two months later than in 2023, (28-30 November) and so there should be some slight respite from the humidity. The Lusail track exerts similar forces on the tyres to those at Silverstone and Suzuka circuits and so the hardest compounds will be used: C1 as Hard, C2 as Medium and C3 as Soft.

As usual, there’s one more act to be played out after the final race and that’s a test day, still in Abu Dhabi, on 10 December, with a two-part test programme. Each team will field two cars: one for young drivers running the 2024 tyres and the other to test the final versions of the tyres that will be used next year.

Verstappen’s lead in the Drivers’ classification has now come down to 47 points ahead of Norris and 71 more than Leclerc. In the Constructors’ standings, McLaren still leads on 566 points while Ferrari has 537 and has moved ahead of Red Bull who are now third on 512.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

14 drivers opted to start on the Medium, while six (Perez, Ocon, Colapinto, Lawson, Bottas and Zhou) went with the Hard. The Safety Car was required right from the opening lap following the collision between Tsunoda and Albon, which led to both of them retiring. In the first few laps after the restart, the race was action-packed with drivers passing and repassing, giving the Stewards plenty of work to do… Then the race settled down, especially the leading positions, before springing back to life in the closing stages with duels between Leclerc and Norris and the Mercedes pair. The only unusual aspects were Verstappen’s climb through the field, having dropped down the order with a double penalty totalling 20 seconds, before he eventually made it up to sixth place. There was also a long distance chess game as some drivers tried to gain, or stop others from gaining, the extra point for the race fastest lap.

Piastri drove the longest stint on the Medium, doing the opening 39 laps on a set of the C4. The longest stint of all on one set of tyres came from one of the specialists in this discipline, namely Bottas who ran 49 laps on the Hard.

Aside from the final pit stops at the very end in the chase for the fastest lap time, all the drivers ran a one-stop race with the exception of Perez who, starting down the back, tried something different.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“A race that provided plenty of excitement right from the start, before gradually settling down, at least as far as the leaders were concerned, before livening up again towards the finish with duels between Leclerc and Norris and an even longer one between Hamilton and Russell. There was plenty of action behind the top five, and at the very end, several drivers pitted for fresh tyres to go for the fastest race lap.

“In terms of strategy, the predictions going into the event were confirmed, with the one-stop being the outright favourite and starting on the Medium before switching to the Hard proving to be the quickest of all the various combinations. Piastri was a good example of this, because even starting from a long way back on the grid, he adopted the same strategy as those at the front and was able to finish in the points.

“Usually, one-stop races require careful tyre management, but today we saw that the drivers were able to push without worrying too much about degradation, which was very limited on both compounds. The Medium showed a few signs of graining, but that did not affect performance excessively, while the Hard always performed well, even for those running the longest stints which came close to the 50 laps mark.”

THE DAY ON TRACK 

With the second free practice session being given over almost entirely to the in-competition test for development of the 2025 tyres, FP3 was very busy, with all 20 drivers focussing on performance runs, fortunately with no interruptions. The drivers at Aston Martin, Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes ran only the Soft compound, apart from scrubbing in laps from George Russell on a set of Mediums and from Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll who each scrubbed in one set of Medium and one of Hard. The C3 was also scrubbed in by Sauber which usually prefers this approach to its race preparation and today, the Hinwil team also scrubbed in a set of Mediums apart from the one used for the normal runs. The other teams split their mileage between Medium and Soft. In qualifying, the three teams at the front, barring any penalties reported between now and tomorrow, Ferrari Mercedes and McLaren, chose to start Q1 with the Medium, while the others obviously only used Softs.
The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Sainz by Mario Isola, Pirelli Director of Motorsport.

MARIO ISOLA - PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“A very closely contested qualifying which, for the second year running, saw a Ferrari come out on top here in Mexico City. This all suggests that in tomorrow’s race the cars will also be evenly matched, especially when it comes to the fight between Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren who so far, have shown they have the edge at this track.

“Today, we saw the times come down throughout, which proves that the track surface is still evolving. It will be the same again in tomorrow’s race, as the cars gradually rubber-in the track more and more. In terms of strategy, this is generally a race where the one-stop is fastest, with the Hard and Medium taking centre stage. Over the past two days, we have seen that the level of graining is significantly less than in the past, which favours the one-stop even more. Theoretically, the quickest strategy involves starting on the Medium before switching to the Hard between lap 25 and 32. Those who opt to start on the C3 should pit between lap 36 and 43 to switch to the C4. The Soft cannot be ruled out entirely: it could come into play as an option either at the start or towards the end, paired with the Hard, or maybe as a set to start on for those gambling on a two-stop to make the most of having two sets of Mediums available, which is on paper the most competitive of the three compounds brought to Mexico.”

The three fastest times of the day were set in the second session. Quickest was Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari (1’17”699) set on a performance run with a C4 prototype. Second was Oscar Piastri (McLaren), who set a time of 1’17”877 on a set of C5 prototypes. Third, just one thousandth slower was Yuki Tsunoda in the Racing Bull, using a set of standard C5s. Fastest in FP1 was George Russell (Mercedes) with a time of 1’17”998 on a set of Softs.

THE DAY ON TRACK

In the first session, all the drivers, including five rookies - Oliver Bearman (Ferrari), Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), Patricio O’Ward (McLaren), Felipe Drugovich (Aston Martin) and Robert Shwartzman (Sauber) – started off on a set of the Hard compound before switching to Softs. There were two red flags, one to remove debris from the track, the other following a collision between Bearman and Alex Albon in the Williams, and these reduced track time by 20 minutes. In the early part of FP2, the session was red flagged for four minutes longer, a total of 24 minutes, when Russell went off the track. However, as this session had been specifically extended to 90 minutes to accommodate the in-competition test, almost the entire programme was completed.

For the final part of FP2, the five race drivers who had not run in the first session were able to run a set of Medium tyres in order to partially make up for the time lost in the first session. However, it should be noted that in FP2 all drivers were able to carry out at least two runs – one short and one long – with either the C4 or C5 that were available to them for this event.

SIMONE BERRA – CHIEF ENGINEER 

“A very important session for us, with a packed programme: not only did we need to gather as much data as possible for the rest of the weekend, but above all, because the in-competition test was the final opportunity to finalise the compound choice, at least as far the softer compounds in the range are concerned, for the 2025 season. With 44 of the total 150 minutes that should have been available lost with the three interruptions, it definitely did not make life easy, neither for us, nor for the teams whom we must thank for their cooperation in running this test.

“As for the Mexico City race weekend, there were few surprises compared to what we had expected. First and foremost, in the first session there was practically no graining. It’s true that there were not many very long runs, but on a track where in the past, graining played a significant role, that’s already a positive sign. The track seemed quick right from the start, with times significantly faster than last year’s, while running in very similar temperatures. The performance evolution was significant, along with, in FP2, quite a drop in temperature as dusk gradually approached.

“As for the in-competition test, clearly we gathered a lot of data, as it’s not often that we have 20 cars running in the same conditions with different options being compared at the same time. That will require an accurate analysis, but the very first indications have nevertheless emerged. First of all, we can say that the new compounds generally proved to be more mechanically resistant than the current ones, which should reduce the phenomenon of graining. Digging down further into the detail, we saw some rather promising and improved C4 options, both in terms of performance and degradation. As for the C5, there are solutions that seem to contain the degradation more, while of the C6s, there is one that seems clearly better, but we need to look at how to position it compared to the C5 in the 2025 range.”

THE DAY ON TRACK   

As expected, most of the field went for the Medium at the start: 14 drivers lined up on the C4, four (Stroll, Bottas, Zhou and Magnussen) on the C3 and two on the C5 (Hamilton and Ricciardo).

The Medium proved to be very flexible in terms of stint length, allowing nearly all drivers to complete the race making just one pit stop. Depending on track position and traffic, we saw drivers stop as early as lap 13 (Sainz) while others even got all the way to lap 38 (Piastri). In fact, Ferrari’s Spanish driver did the longest stint of all, covering no less than 49 laps on the Hard.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“All in all, this was a relatively straightforward race, without a single neutralisation, the first time that has happened in the history of this race. The one-stop proved to be definitely the quickest and all three compounds behaved as expected. The Medium and the Hard clearly saw the most use, but the Soft also proved its worth, as could be seen for example in the times set by Hamilton on full fuel load in his first 17 lap stint, or with Tsunoda over 28 laps in the second part of the race, with a perfectly acceptable level of degradation.

“When it comes to evaluating tyre performance, an important factor to consider is the level of pace management adopted by the drivers, together with how much traffic they encountered at various stages of the race. That was particularly relevant with the Medium, because depending on their pace, some drivers were able to extend their first stint well beyond the window predicted by the strategy simulations, which opened up the possibility of using the Soft, as was the case with the aforementioned Tsunoda and Gasly.

“After four races in five weeks, Formula 1 takes a short break now, ahead of the triple-header in the Americas. But for our group, the work on track continues, with four days of testing which is only possible thanks to the vital support of the teams, in this case, Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren.”

Another clean sweep, her fourth of the season, for Abbi Pulling (Alpine-Rodin) who repeated her performance from yesterday in Race 1, dominating Race 2 from start to finish, this time also taking the extra point for setting the fastest race lap, something that eluded her yesterday. The podium featured the same players in the same order as yesterday’s prizegiving, namely Maya Weug (Scuderia Ferrari-Prema) in second and Doriane Pin (Mercedes-Prema) third.

Pulling will come to the penultimate round of the series with the title within her grasp. She has a 95 point advantage over Pin and with 112 points up for grabs, she only needs 16 to become the second ever F1 Academy champion. The teams’ title is much more uncertain: reigning champions Prema Racing have retaken the lead here in Singapore on 287 points, seven more than Rodin Motorsport, with Campos Racing third on 228.

The F1 Academy now has two test sessions on the circuits hosting the final two rounds of the season: at Yas Marina (Abu Dhabi) from 18 to 20 October and at Lusail (Qatar) from 12 to 14 November. The next round is on the same card as the Qatar Grand Prix from 29 November to 1^st December.

COMING UP NEXT FOR OUR TYRES

The World Championship now takes an unusual, if welcome, three week break prior to the final part of the season, starting with the United States Grand Prix, at Austin Texas from 18 to 20 October. However, in that time, Pirelli will still be busy on track with two test sessions planned for early October. On 1^st and 2^nd, Mercedes will be working with us at Magny-Cours, on 2025 tyre development, including one day given over to wet weather tyre work. Then, on 8^th and 9^th, three teams will be in action at the Mugello circuit: Red Bull for two days and Ferrari for one day will be working on next year’s tyres, while, for two days, McLaren will carry out the second development test of the 2026 prototype tyres.

Max Verstappen, lapped in 1’29”728 and will line up alongside Norris, having yet again missed out on pole at the Marina Bay circuit. The second row is an all-Mercedes affair, with Lewis Hamilton (1’29”841) ahead of team-mate George Russell by just 26 thousandths of a second. 

THE DAY ON TRACK 

The third free practice session was mainly given over to preparing for qualifying. Three drivers, Colapinto (Williams) and the Sauber duo of Bottas and Zhou, only ran the Soft tyre, thus saving two sets of Mediums for tomorrow’s race. The other 17 drivers used one set of Medium and one of Soft, with the Aston Martin duo carrying out their usual scrubbing in of Medium and Hard sets which they will keep as per the regulations for the race.

Obviously, the C5 was the only tyre used in qualifying. In Q1, some drivers managed to improve even on a second timed lap having first done a cooldown lap for the tyres, but actually, right from the latter part of the first phase, maximum performance was available right from the first attempt. For the seventh time this season, seven teams got at least one driver into Q3.

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Lando Norris by The Corrs. The famous Irish band first appeared on the scene in 1990, made up of sisters and brother, Andrea, Sharon, Caroline and Jim Corr. They are known for combining pop rock with more traditional forms of music from Ireland. With seven albums and over 40 million record sales around the world, the Corrs have topped the charts with hits including “Breathless,” “Runaway” and “What Can I Do.” In 1999, they won the Best International Group award at the BRITS.

MARIO ISOLA - PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“It was a very interesting day, starting with the third free practice session. Despite heavy rain falling for a long time last night, the track did not lose grip and during the 60 minutes, it continued to improve. The situation was different during the qualifying hour, when track evolution was very low, which explains why the quickest time from FP3, set by Norris in 1’29”646, was beaten by him by only 125 thousandths of a second. One has to keep in mind that the air is very humid here in Singapore and there was no track activity between the two Formula 1 sessions, which could also have had an impact on track surface condition.

“Looking ahead to tomorrow’s race, when a pit stop to change tyres costs around 28”, a one-stop is the obligatory choice. On paper, from an initial analysis, a Medium-Hard scenario is the quickest route, with a pit stop window between laps 21 and 27. The Soft has proved to be a viable option for the first stint, with an earlier stop between lap 14 and 19 to take on the Hard. Those starting between the midfield and the front of the grid could also consider starting on the Hard to go for the longest first stint possible, with an ideal pit stop window between laps 37 and 43.

“Having said all that, on this type of track, we have often seen, not least last year here, drivers and teams playing tactically with their race pace, especially on the first stint. Neutralisations and the weather are two other unknown factors that definitely have to be taken into consideration, but there is little one can do about those, apart from being ready to make the most of any opportunity that presents itself.”

Another win for Abbi Pulling in the first race of the weekend. The English Alpine-Rodin driver thus recorded her sixth victory from nine races, dominating proceedings from lights out to chequered flag. Second was Dutch racer Maya Weug (Scuderia Ferrari-Prema) just over two seconds behind, while France’s Doriane Pin (Mercedes-Prema) managed to snatch third by just two tenths, despite a five second penalty for a jumped start. There are just five races remaining, one tomorrow here in Singapore, then two each in Lusail and Abu Dhabi and Pulling seems to have the title within her grasp. Last year’s champion, Marta Garcia, was on hand yesterday to present the Englishwoman with a double Pirelli Pole Position Award, as she set the two fastest times in qualifying. Pulling has never finished off the podium and has 217 points, 82 more than Doriane Pin, with Weug up to third on 102 points, having overtaking the American Chloe Chambers (99 points, Haas-Campos) who finished fifth today.

Lando Norris was quickest come the end of the first day of the Singapore Grand Prix. The McLaren driver set his best time in the second session, stopping the clocks in 1’30”727, 58 thousandths quicker than second placed Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari: both drivers are already under last year’s pole position time set by Carlos Sainz (1’30”984).

The fact that the track is considerably quicker than a year ago was already evident in FP1, when the same two drivers topped the time sheet, but in the reverse order, first the Monegasque in 1’31”763, second the Englishman in 1’31”839, also quicker than last year’s Friday times.

In terms of tyre usage, the initial impression is very different to last Friday in Baku, even though the three dry tyre compounds are the same. In Azerbaijan, the white-banded Hard was barely seen, with only Alpine and Mercedes doing significant runs with them, whereas here all the drivers used a set of C3s: 13 in the first session, seven in the second.

The “colour chart” on the long runs was also varied, with all three compounds used in race simulations for Sunday, even the Soft which usually does not see much use in the race.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“A day that could be described as normal. Two hours of free practice went off without a hitch, with all teams trying all three available compounds, also with different fuel loads. From what we saw today, there was no graining, not even on the Soft, which could open the door to its eventual use on Sunday. With that in mind, it will be interesting to see how the teams tackle the third free practice sessions while there’s the mandatory selection of the Hard and a Medium, some could choose to hold back two Mediums while others might prefer having an extra set of new Softs for qualifying.

“The track proved to be considerably quicker than last year, to the extent that the 2023 pole time has already been beaten. Apart from the inevitable improvement in car performance from one year to the next, it could also be down to the fact that the track, at least on the racing line, has been cleaned with high-pressure jet washers, which means the track surface offers better performance and is much cleaner. However, lap times will continue to come down as the track rubbers in, so it is conceivable that in qualifying we could even get below the 1’29”200 predicted for pole by the simulations provided by the teams going into this Grand Prix.

“One unknown factor could be the weather, as one can never rule out heavy showers here, straddling the Equator, which could see a reset of track conditions and a loss of the grip built up so far.”

For the Formula 1 Pirelli United States Grand Prix 2024, which takes place in Austin from 18 to 20 October, the following compounds will be used: C2 as P Zero White hard, C3 as P Zero Yellow medium and C4 as P Zero Red soft, the same selection as last year.

Mexico City (25-27 October) and Sao Paolo (1-3 November) will both feature the three softest compounds in the range: C3 as P Zero White hard, C4 as P Zero Yellow medium and C5 as P Zero Red soft. While the choice for the circuit dedicated to the memory of the Rodriguez brothers, Pedro and Ricardo, is identical to that in 2023, moving onto the Interlagos track, it represents a change. In Brazil in 2023, the teams could use the C2 as Hard, the C3 as Medium and the C4 as Soft. The hardest of these was never used, with all drivers running a two stop race alternating the Medium and Soft. One step softer therefore should offer more strategy choices. Furthermore, there is some resurfacing work being carried out at the Brazilian track which adds another set of unknown factors. Friday will therefore be more important than ever to evaluate tyre behaviour, while keeping in mind that grip levels will change very quickly over the course of the whole weekend.

Piastri picked up 25 points today and Lando Norris brought home 13, which means McLaren now leads the Constructors’ championship, the first time the Woking-based team has done so since the opening round of the 2014 season in Australia.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

The majority of drivers (14) opted to start on the Medium tyre. The Hard was chosen by Lando Norris (McLaren), Alexander Albon (Williams), Daniel Ricciardo (Racing Bulls), Zhou Guanyu (Sauber) and both Alpine drivers (Ocon and Gasly). As expected, the one-stop strategy proved the most effective in terms of tyre management: only two drivers, Stroll and Verstappen, pitted twice, but in these cases the stops were not for strategic reasons: The Canadian had a puncture as a result of a collision with Tsunoda on the opening lap and the Dutchman pitted again because he tried to set the race fastest lap in the closing stages, able to come down pit lane without losing position.

The longest stint of all was driven by Pierre Gasly (Alpine), who completed 50 laps on the Hard, only pitting on the penultimate lap to switch to Softs. As for the Medium, Alex Albon made the most use of it, doing a long 20 lap second stint on the C4.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“A fortnight on from the Italian Grand Prix, we have been treated to another really thrilling race, with the outcome unclear from the first lap to the last. In Monza we saw two different strategies in play, but today, almost everyone went with the same choice, but in no way did that detract from the on-track action, with a long three way fight for the lead, as well as several others battles throughout the race.

“For this weekend and indeed the next one, we have gone with the same choice of dry compounds, which worked as expected, adapting very well to the track characteristics and conditions. Going into the event, the Soft was clearly going to be a qualifying tyre and the Hard the quickest for the race, with the Medium as a great compromise for the first part of the race: between yesterday and today we saw those predictions confirmed.

“Even today, the track continued to rubber-in. It meant the lap times continued to improve and degradation was pretty limited. A few drivers experienced graining, especially in the first stint, but it did not significantly affect their performance. Clearly, running in traffic made life complicated in terms of tyre management, but that is pretty much inevitable with the current aerodynamic configuration of these cars.”

FORMULA 2

A bittersweet win for Richard Verschoor in the Feature Race. The Dutch Trident team driver came out on top in a race that was interrupted immediately because of a spectacular accident at the start. Fortunately, no one was injured, but the race distance was reduced from 29 to 17 laps. The Italian team dedicated the win to its owner, Maurizio Salvadori on the day that his son Luca was tragically killed in a motorcycle race.

Also on the podium were Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix) and Kimi Antonelli (Prema Racing) while thanks to finishing fourth this morning and taking the extra point for the fastest race lap, Brazil’s Gabriel Bortoleto (Invicta Racing) has moved into the championship lead, 4.5 points ahead of France’s Isack Hadjar (Campos Racing) who left Azerbaijan with no points this weekend.

It is difficult to evaluate the performance of the two compounds Pirelli chose for this round because of the reduced race distance and the arrival of the Safety Car with two minutes remaining of the time allowed for the race. For the start, only three drivers chose the Soft, with the rest of the field going with the Supersoft, which allowed them to push for almost all the first half of the reduced race distance.

COMING UP NEXT FOR OUR TYRES

Next week, Formula 1 is back in action in Singapore for the 18^th round of the longest season in the sport’s history. However, before that, there’s an early nod to the 2026 season in Barcelona (Spain) on Tuesday, 17^th and Wednesday, 18^th September. The Barcelona-Catalunya circuit will host the debut test of the first prototype tyres built to the new technical regulations – still 18” but slightly narrower than the current ones. Aston Martin is supporting Pirelli for this test, with a car adapted to take the new size of tyre. Driving duties for the two days are entrusted to the Brazilian, Felipe Drugovich.

Leclerc’s 1’41”365 put over three tenths between himself and second placed Oscar Piastri (1’41”686 for McLaren) and was 44 hundredths quicker than team-mate Carlos Sainz, third in 1’41”805.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

It wasn’t just Ferrari that made red the day’s dominant colour as the Soft tyre was practically the only compound used across the third free practice session and in qualifying. One exception was down to the now usual habit of scrubbing-in tyres for the race adopted by the trio of teams, Aston Martin, Racing Bulls and Sauber and the other was Mercedes whose drivers tackled at least one run on the Medium in Q1.

There were also a couple of red flags that reduced track time in FP3 and that meant no teams managed to do long runs with a heavy fuel load in preparation for the race.

Leclerc was presented with the Pirelli Pole Position Award by the Colombian singer J Balvin. The reggaeton singer is one of the most successful Latin artists in the world, with record sales of over 35 million. J Balvin has won five Billboard Latin Music Awards and has worked with Beyoncé, Pharrell Williams, Camila Cabelo, David Guetta and Cardi B. The single “Mi Gente”, with Willy William, is one of his best known songs.

MARIO ISOLA - PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“It really seems as though Leclerc has a special feeling for this track as it’s not often you see a driver take four consecutive poles at the same Grand Prix!

“Once again today we saw the track get quicker and quicker the more laps the cars did, but we are still a long way off, not just the time expected from the teams’ simulations of 1’39”4, but also far from last year’s pole (1’40”203), which shows there is still room for more track evolution during the race.

“In terms of strategy, on paper, the one-stop is definitely the quickest option at this track, with Medium and Hard the most suitable for the 51 lap race. A two-stop only becomes credible if there is a Safety Car in the second half of the race and that’s probably why many drivers have held back two sets of C3 for tomorrow afternoon. Theoretically, based on an initial look at the data, the first stop should come between laps 13 and 20 for those who opt to start on the Medium, while those who leave the grid on Hards should pit between laps 32 and 38. Clearly, a neutralisation could lead to a run of pit stops, as we saw last year for example. One factor to consider will be graining, given that the track is still very dirty.”

FORMULA 2

Joshua Duerksen (AIX Racing) produced a great drive, going from fourth to first in the Sprint race to take his first win in the category. The Paraguayan was victorious in a race that saw plenty of overtaking and incidents, crossing the line over three seconds ahead of second placed Jak Crawford (DAMS Lucas Oil) while, on his debut in this category, Gabriele Minì (PREMA Racing) fended off Victor Martins all the way to the flag to claim third place.

Thermal degradation on the Soft tyre was consistent and increased significantly towards half-distance. A Safety Car further complicated the situation for some drivers, especially those who had pushed a lot in the early stages. They then struggled to get the front axle up to temperature because of graining and were thus vulnerable to being overtaken in the closing stages.

THE DAY ON TRACK

In terms of tyre use, it was confirmed that the Soft would not be an option for the race. The fact that only Alpine in FP1 and Mercedes in FP2 used a set of Hards with each of their drivers, meaning that the other eight teams saved all theirs for the rest of the weekend, demonstrates that the C3 is the tyre best suited for the race, which is totally in line with our predictions. The track evolution was very significant as the cars - F2 as well as F1 - put in the laps. Therefore, when looking at the times one has to also take this parameter into consideration.

SIMONE BERRA – CHIEF ENGINEER

“The two hours of practice were rather difficult to interpret, especially because of the track condition. We had already seen after taking track surface measurements on Wednesday that the grip level was lower than last year’s and also differed from one section of track to another and that was confirmed today once the cars started running. Lap times dropped very quickly, but they are still a way off those recorded in last year’s one and only free practice session, when Baku hosted the first Sprint format weekend of 2023, but also slower than those from earlier simulations. Why? It’s impossible to give a definitive answer but this may have been down to the fact the asphalt was not treated as it had been last year, as could be seen by the amount of dirt kicked up by the cars.

“We noticed some graining on the tyres over a long run, but not to a particularly high degree and we believe that, as the track rubbers in, its incidence will decrease. In terms of strategy, this is usually a race run in two parts, featuring the Medium and the Hard tyres, while the Soft is clearly a qualifying tyre. Therefore, that explains why eight of the ten teams kept both their sets of Hards, not so much because they are considering a two-stop, but to cover any eventual neutralisation and thus make the most of the tyre that’s the most competitive over a long distance.”

FORMULA 2

Richard Verschoor (Trident) secured pole position for the Feature Race just getting ahead of Kimi Antonelli (Prema) at the end: 1’54”857 for the Dutchman, 1’54”874 for the Italian in a session that was interrupted several times.

This year, there’s a change of compound for the Azerbaijan weekend. In order to provide a higher level of grip and to facilitate getting the tyres up to the right operating temperature, the P Zero Yellow medium used in 2023 has been replaced with the P Zero Red soft. This means there is no longer a jump in the compound choice as the other tyre is once again the P Zero purple supersoft. Drivers will probably have to deal with thermal degradation across the rear axle and those who manage this best will reap the reward in the closing stages of both races. Track evolution will be very significant from one session to the next and, when it comes to strategy for the Feature Race, it will be important to keep a close eye on the performance of the Supersoft, possibly for its eventual use in a stint of around a dozen laps.

Leclerc took the chequered flag ahead of the two McLaren drivers, beating Oscar Piastri by 2”664 and Lando Norris by 6”153. These three had the honour of wearing the special edition of the Podium Cap, in white with the Italian flag on its peak. They can be aquired at this link.

The three drivers and Ferrari’s Sporting Director, Diego Ioverno were all presented with a VROOOM trophy, designed by the artist Andrea Sala, through the now usual collaboration between Pirelli and Pirelli HangarBicocca at the Italian Grand Prix.

The race saw a repeat of the qualifying scenario in that the top four teams occupied the top eight places, with the last two points positions going to Alex Albon, ninth for Williams and Kevin Magnussen tenth for Haas.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

At the start, the majority (14) of the drivers went with the Medium. The Hards were chosen by the two Red Bulls, Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls) and Valtteri Bottas (Sauber). Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver not to make it to the chequered flag. Of the remaining 19, nine pitted once, ten did two or more (Stroll, three).

Daniel Ricciardo (Racing Bulls) ran the longest stint of all, completing 42 laps on the Hard. Esteban Ocon led the way on the Medium, running a 21 lap second stint on the C4.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“A really exciting race followed by an amazing show from the fans. The enthusiasm of the Monza crowd is incredible and contagious, and really gives one goosebumps. Congratulations to Charles Leclerc and Ferrari, as winning this Grand Prix must be an incredible feeling for them.

“On the technical front, this was a Grand Prix that had it all: battles on track between the drivers with some spectacular overtaking moves, such as Piastri’s on Norris and a strategic confrontation between those who had opted to stop twice and those on a one-stop.

 “We said prior to the event that the one-stop would be the quickest and that proved to be correct. The fact that nearly all the teams had kept two sets of Hards for the race gave them the flexibility to go with different scenarios if necessary. One should keep in mind that no one had sufficient data to fully evaluate the C3 performance on the completely new track surface.

“Management of graining was key and it was probably affected by the track evolution. Initial analysis of the data and the visual checks of the tyres at the end of each stint showed that graining was very significant in the first part of the race, especially on the front left, but less so on the left rear, with both the Hard and Medium, while in the following stints the phenomenon was less present. A vital factor therefore was the drivers’ feeling during the race and their ability to manage the tyres, especially for those who stuck with the strategy they had opted for at the start, namely the one-stop.”

FORMULA 2

Gabriel Bortoleto (Invicta Racing) put on a great show, going from last on the grid to the top step of the podium in the Feature Race. The Brazilian made the most of a Safety Car period to make his pit stop and go into the lead, which he then kept to the flag. It was his second win of the season and he was joined on the podium by the Barbadian Zane Maloney (Rodin Motorsport) and Dutchman Richard Verschoor (Trident).

The majority of drivers started on the Supersoft, banking on the appearance of a Safety Car shortly after lap six, when the performance of the softest compound was theoretically still good enough. Ten cars pitted between the sixth and seventh laps but were then caught out as the Safety Car came out next time round and those, like Bortoleto, who had yet to pit enjoyed a huge advantage. The winner has now put himself right back in the fight for the title, especially as Isaak Hadjar (Campos Racing) failed to score in either race this weekend. They are now split by 10.5 points with three rounds remaining, in Baku, Lusail and Yas Marina.

FORMULA 3

The final race of the season turned out to be exciting and spectacular all the way to the chequered flag, not only in the fight for the win, but more importantly in terms of the four-way battle for the championship title, between the two Italians (Leonardo Fornaroli and Gabriele Minì) and two British drivers (Luke Browning and Arvid Lindblad). In the end, it came down to an Italian duel, with the outcome decided just a few hundred metres from the finish line. France’s Sami Meguetonif (Trident) actually won the Feature Race, while alongside him on the podium was Mini, second for Prema Racing and Fornaroli third for Trident. However, in terms of the title race, the positions were reversed with Fornaroli crowned champion, the gap between them just two points (150 to 148). The key move was the new champion’s last lap pass on Australia’s Christian Mansell going into the Parabolica.

Hours after the end of the race, a series of decisions from the Stewards changed the race result and, at least in terms of points, the state of the championship. Mini was disqualified for a technical infringement because of tyre pressures that were too low. The Italian thus lost second place in the race but not in the championship, where he now leads Browning by two points, 130 to 128. Thus Fornaroli was classified second in the Feature Race, with Mansell promoted to third.

When it came to the tyres, their behaviour was in line with what had been seen in the Sprint Race. Obviously, today’s race being five laps longer meant there was a more significant drop in performance in the closing stages. Those who had done the better job of managing the tyres in the first part then enjoyed an advantage over the final kilometres.

COMING UP NEXT FOR OUR TYRES

Formula 1 action continues next week at the Monza circuit, with two days of development testing focussed on tyre compounds for next season. Three teams will be providing cars and drivers for this important work for 2025: on Tuesday 3 September, George Russell will be on track in the Mercedes and Liam Lawson will drive a Red Bull. On the Wednesday, the New Zealander will switch to driving a Racing Bulls car.

Lando Norris came out on top to secure his fifth pole position, the fourth this season and the second in a row after taking the number one slot in Zandvoort a week ago. The McLaren driver’s best time was a 1’19”327. He was followed by team-mate Oscar Piastri (1’19”436). This was the Woking team’s 160^th pole position and its first front row lockout at the Italian Grand Prix since 2012, on that occasion with Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. On the second row, we find the Mercedes of George Russell (1’19”440) and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc (1’19”461). Just two other drivers got under the 1’20” barrier, Carlos Sainz (Ferrari, 1’19”467) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes, 1’19”513). Behind them, there’s a gap of over half a second to the Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen (1’20”022) ahead of Sergio Perez (1’20”062).

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Norris by Javier Zanetti, the Vice-president of FC Internazionale Milano and former player and flag bearer for the aforementioned team. The Argentinian’s career featured five Italian championships, four Coppa Italia and the same number of Supercoppa Italiana wins, one Champions League title, one UEFA Cup and Clubs World Cup, all playing for Inter, for whom he made a record 858 appearances.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

Again in the third free practice session, the C3 was hardly used: only Aston Martin, Racing Bulls and Sauber scrubbed in their available sets (Tsunoda just the one, while Zhou just did an installation lap with a set). It is further confirmation that the hardest of the three compounds Pirelli has brought to Monza is the most suitable for the race.

In qualifying, the Soft dominated proceedings, proving to be the perfect compound for a flying lap at this track, providing maximum performance on the first timed lap. However, some drivers managed to improve even on used sets, but that was more down to track evolution than to the C5’s ability to recover performance even on a longer run.

MARIO ISOLA - PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“A great qualifying session, very closely contested by this season’s top four teams with the championship looking more open than ever. McLaren confirmed it has the most versatile car at this point in the season, taking pole at the very tight and twisty Zandvoort, in rather cool conditions and now at the Temple of Speed on a typically hot Italian summer’s day.

“In fact, temperatures will play an important role in the race, with conditions tomorrow forecast to be similar to today’s and that definitely won’t help teams and drivers when it comes to tyre management. Graining could still be a factor, which could open the door to a possible two-stop strategy. That is why, apart from ensuring they have an additional option in the event of a neutralisation, all the drivers, with the exception of Tsunoda, have chosen to keep two sets of Hards for the race. On paper, the very long Monza pit lane usually means that a one-stop is almost obligatory here: so a strategy based on using one set of the C4 and one of the C3, stopping between laps 20 and 26 is the quickest. Although the opposite usage would work for those thinking of running a longer first stint, stopping between laps 26 and 32. This year however, a two-stop cannot be ruled out, running one set of Medium and two of Hard. Honestly, I think everyone will try and run a one-stop, trying to manage the tyres especially in the opening laps of each stint to avoid stressing them too much, while aware they have a Plan B up their sleeve thanks to having two sets of Hard.

“Finally, I’m pleased to report that our simulations prior to qualifying as to the pole position times (1’19”1, in cooler temperatures than were actually experienced) were substantially proved to be correct, even in unusual circumstances, as we had very little data available relating to the track surface as it was completely new.”

FORMULA 2

The Sprint Race produced a second win of the season for Englishman Oliver Bearman (Prema Racing) who started from eighth on the grid. He was joined on the podium in second and third places respectively by France’s Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix) and Dutchman Joshua Durksen (AIX Racing). Worth noting that Brazil’s Gabriel Bortoleto (Invicta Racing) and Norway’s Dennis Hauger (MP Motorsport) finished eighth equal, thus picking up a half point each as they could not be split, even with timing to the nearest thousandth of a second as they took the chequered flag.

The Medium is by nature a relatively conservative compound and the new track surface accentuated this characteristic. Degradation and wear was minimal which meant the drivers were able to set their fastest laps in the closing stages of the race. For tomorrow it will therefore be very important to understand how the Supersoft will work and when best to use it.

FORMULA 3

Tim Tramnitz (MP Motorsport) won the Sprint race, having started from pole position. The German crossed the line ahead of Colombian Sebastian Montoya (Campos Racing) who had to fend off the attentions of Mexican Santiago Ramos (Trident) who joined them on the podiumThe Colombian was given a penalty after the race which dropped him to eleventh place. It meant third place thus went to Ireland’s Alex Dunne (MP Motorsport).

There was a very closely contested midfield battle between the title contenders, with Luke Browning (Hitech Pulse-Eight) working his way up to sixth, while Leonardo Fornaroli (Trident) and Gabriele Mini (Prema Racing) picked up valuable points in eighth and ninth places respectively. These three, along with Arvid Lindblad (Prema Racing) will fight it out for the championship crown in tomorrow’s Feature Race.

The new surface offered better grip and so there was not much graining, but thermal degradation was still significant. Those who managed it most efficiently had the upper hand in the closing stages.

This was McLaren’s 186^th win, the third this season. In fourth place, Oscar Piastri is the only driver to have completed all 917 laps of this season’s races so far.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

16 drivers chose to line up on the grid on the Medium, while three – Hamilton, Tsunoda and Bottas – opted for the Soft and Magnussen started from pit lane on the Hard. Three quarters of the drivers ran a one-stop race, fitting the Hard as their second set (Magnussen switched to the Medium). The Mercedes drivers made two stops, with Hamilton using two sets of C3 and Russell one, while Tsunoda, Bottas and Zhou used all three available compounds and Albon used to sets of C2 split by one stint on the Hard.

Hulkenberg produced the longest stint of the race, doing 57 laps on the Hard. The prize on the Medium goes to Piastri (33 laps), while Hamilton did 24 on the Soft.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“A very intense race, where we witnessed one driver and one team – Lando Norris and McLaren – demonstrate clear superiority over his rivals and team-mate. Behind him, there was a great battle within the two groups of teams which have emerged this season: the leading group, made up of McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes and the rest of the field, all fighting for the remaining points.

“In terms of strategy, we had our predictions going into the race confirmed, namely that the one-stop was the quickest option. From the small amount of data acquired during free practice and based on earlier simulations, we expected to see more cars run the Soft to benefit from its performance advantage over the Medium, but probably, the majority of teams decided to tackle the first stint more cautiously given there was not much information available to them. In fact, the Soft proved to be up to the task, as was evident with Hamilton, as he was the driver who made up the most places from his grid position, starting on the C3 and then opting to use it again for his third stint.”

Abbie Pulling leaves Zandvoort with a points haul of 43, more than any of the other F1 Academy drivers competing in this the fourth of seven rounds of the second season of this series. The Alpine-Rodin driver took pole for Race 1 which she then went on to win and she finished third in Race 2. The English girl thus extends her lead in the championship on 190 points, 71 more than Doriane Pin. The French Mercedes-Prema driver won Race 2, having started from pole. She had crossed the line in second place in the first race, but was then relegated to fifth with a penalty for a jumped start. The Ferrari-Prema driver, Maya Weug, twice finished on the podium, third in Race 1 and second in Race 2. It should be noted that both races were run this morning as yesterday’s race had to be postponed because of the bad weather.

The next round of the F1 Academy takes place in Singapore from 20 to 22 September, on the same card as the 18^th Grand Prix of 2024.

This was Norris’ fourth pole position, his third this season and McLaren now has 159 number one starts to its name. It was the first time since 1984 that McLaren secured what was its only other pole for the Dutch Grand Prix, forty years ago courtesy of Alain Prost.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

The third free practice session provided little in the way of useful information, both because it was run on a wet track and because it only really lasted a little over a quarter of an hour, as there was a long pause following Logan Sargeant’s crash in the Williams.

By depriving second placed Max Verstappen of pole, Norris also scotched a potential meeting of two legends of Dutch sport. In fact, the Englishman was presented with the Pirelli Pole Position Award by Ruud Gullit, one of the greatest football players of the second half of the last century. Gullit won a European title with the Dutch national team in 1988, three Dutch championships, three Italian championships, two Champions Cups, two European Supercups, two Intercontinental Cups, two Netherlands Cups, one Coppa Italia and one English FA Cup, this last one in the role of player-manager for Chelsea.

MARIO ISOLA - PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“It all looked very closely matched during two free practice sessions and the first two parts of qualifying, but then in Q3, Norris made a step forward which put pole out of reach of his competitors, with a fantastic lap: 356 thousandths is a very significant advantage on a track that is only a little over four kilometres in length!

“Clearly, because of the bad weather and various interruptions, preparation for teams and drivers was far from optimal for the grid-deciding session. In those 60 minutes, it was clear the Soft offered peak performance on the first flying lap and so, the use of a new set saw a significant improvement in lap time, probably even superior to that offered by the evolution of the track conditions.

“As for possible scenarios for tomorrow’s race, the relatively little data gathered over three hours of free practice still confirmed the results of simulations prior to the event. On paper, the one-stop is quickest, with the C3/C1 combination preferable to a C2/C3: in the first case the pit stop window can be between laps 24 and 30, while for the second it should open four laps later and close on lap 34.”

While the street circuits in Baku and Singapore are the natural habitat for the chosen compounds, the fact that these have also been selected for Monza might create a few surprises. In fact, it’s worth noting that the track which hosts the Italian Grand Prix has been completely resurfaced, with the work only completed a few weeks ago. It will be interesting to see how Pirelli, as well as the teams and drivers, deal with this new challenge and how the compounds behave on the new surface.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

On the grid, the vast majority of drivers had opted to start on the Medium. The only exceptions were Sainz and Zhou who chose the Hard and Ricciardo who preferred the Soft.

The two-stop was the most popular strategy, while the Hard was the compound that performed best, both in terms of degradation and performance. Zhou was the only driver to retire and of the remaining 19, five of them – in their finishing order –Russell, Alonso, Stroll, Magnussen and Tsunoda, only pitted once, going from the Medium to the Hard, with the first two of these finishing in the points places, respectively first and ninth.

The prize for the longest stint goes to Russell who did 34 laps on the Hard, while on his final stint, Hulkenberg went furthest (24 laps) on the Medium.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“First of all, let me say this was a really exciting race. It’s been quite a while since Formula 1 has put on such a show and it’s unusual to see a race where the outcome is so uncertain, with the top three within just over a second of one another and the first six finishers, all of whom could legitimately claim to have aimed for the win or at least the podium, all finishing within under 10 seconds. It’s a shame the race result had to be changed but, as even Mercedes agreed, the rule regarding weight is very clear.

The second topic is strategy. Going into the race, we stated that a one-stop was not fast enough compared to a two-stop, but leaving aside Russell’s disqualification, his performance would disprove that theory. For a preliminary explanation, at least in terms of tyre behaviour, there are some factors that stand out. First of all, today’s track temperature was around 10 degrees higher than during FP2 and that probably contributed to very limited graining on the Hard, which on the other hand was very significant on the Mediums on a long stint. Furthermore, we can assume that the teams worked hard on defining car set-up to find the best compromise between a wet qualifying and a dry race and to try and protect the front axle, which was most prone to graining. A third element to consider is that many drivers made a point of looking after their Mediums very carefully, especially in the quickest corners.

Two thirds of the race was a fascinating chess game, with moves and countermoves, especially among the leaders, but also further down the field and then it all came to life over the final 15 laps or so, with all the drivers beginning to push and fight for track position. It was a show that, as I said earlier, means we go into the summer break with a strong desire to see something similar in a few weeks’ times in Zandvoort and indeed for the rest of the season.”

FORMULA 2

Isack Hadjar (Campos Racing) won the Feature Race at Spa-Francorchamps, his fourth success of the season. To take the win, the championship leader had to pass his main rivals for the title, starting with polesitter Paul Aron, whose podium hopes evaporated on the last lap with a technical problem. Second and third were Gabriel Bortoleto (Invicta Racing)  and Jak Crawford (DAMS). Hadjar on 165 points, extends his lead over Bortoleto (129) who has now moved ahead of Aron (124).

There was a 50-50 split on the grid, with 11 on the Soft tyre and the same number on the Medium. The key factor was controlling tyre wear, aggravated mainly by the newly resurfaced sections of the track that offered more grip than in the past. Those who did the best job then reaped the benefit in the closing stages.

FORMULA 3

Callum Voisin (Rodin Motorsport) took a maiden Formula 3 win in the Feature Race, which was affected by numerous incidents and three Safety Cars. Joining him on the podium were Sebastian Montoya (Campos Racing) and Leonardo Fornaroli (Trident), the latter retaking the series lead. With just the final round in Monza remaining, the Italian has 129 points, one more than fellow countryman Gabriele Minì, out of the points today. Third is Luke Browning (123 points), followed by Arvid Lindblad (113).

COMING UP NEXT FOR OUR TYRES

Pirelli still has work to do in Formula 1 this summer. The Spa-Francorchamps circuit is hosting two days of testing aimed at 2025 tyre development. On track on Tuesday 30 and Wednesday 31 July will be the Aston Martin and Alpine teams, who will run Stoffel Vandoorne and Esteban Ocon respectively on both days. On the job sheet, finalising the new constructions and development of the hardest dry weather compounds in the range. If it happens to rain, then the focus will switch to assessing new solutions for the intermediate and extreme wet tyres.

This is Leclerc’s 25^th pole position, the third at this track, following on from last year and 2019. It is his second this season after Monaco and it is Ferrari’s 251^st pole, the 17^th at this Grand Prix.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

The third free practice session was affected by rain that began to fall around twenty minutes before the green light. Then came a red flag after ten minutes when Stroll crashed and that pretty much signalled the end of the session, which up to that point had seen almost all drivers run with intermediate tyres, the only exceptions being the two Sauber drivers who did their first lap on the Extreme Wet. The Race Director then declared the track open with two minutes remaining, just so that the drivers could do their practice starts.

Qualifying took place from start to finish on a wet track, even if the rain only fell intermittently and not on the entire track. Therefore what made the difference was driver skill in very low grip conditions, as well as their management of the intermediate tyres as each driver had four new sets available: the only driver of those who got to Q3 who able to do four runs always using a new set was Verstappen, while all the others had to do at least one run on a used set.

Max Verstappen was presented with the Pirelli Pole Position Award by Damon Hill, the 1996 World Champion at the wheel of a Renault-powered Williams. He raced in Formula 1 from 1992 to 1999, driving for – in chronological order – Brabham, Williams, Arrows and Jordan. Apart from his title, his palmares features 22 wins, 20 pole positions, 19 fastest race laps and 42 podium finishes. The Belgian Grand Prix is actually the race where Damon enjoyed the most success, winning in 1993 and 1994 with Williams and then in 1998 with Jordan, that win being his final appearance on the podium.

MARIO ISOLA - PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

 “Today was another example of how changeable the weather can be here in Spa! In fact, we and the teams were expecting rain to be the feature of Saturday, which meant that the data acquired yesterday will be vital in deciding the best strategy for tomorrow’s race, which regardless of the peculiarities of the Belgian summer, should take place on a dry track.

Compared to last year, the new track surface has now shifted the balance significantly towards a two-stop strategy. It also means that the hardest tyre here, the C2, is now much more suitable for the race than it was twelve months ago, to the detriment of the softest C4. However, all three compounds are still perfectly viable, also because only four teams – Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Alpine – have two sets of Hards available.

On paper, the fastest strategy is to run the first stint on the Medium before doing a double stint on the Hard. The logical alternative is to go Medium/Hard/Medium but the Soft/Hard/Hard and Soft/Hard/Medium options cannot be ruled out. The one-stop is too slow, while the three-stop, even on a track where overtaking is definitely possible is, at least according to simulations, not faster. A further consideration is that the set-up choices made today remain the same for tomorrow, given that the cars in are in parc ferme and that could also change the balance of power seen in qualifying.

It’s worth noting that in qualifying run on a wet track and over seven kilometres, the top six drivers on the grid are all covered by just 430 thousandths. Of course there’s one driver who finished Q3 almost six tenths ahead of the rest, but he goes by the name of Max Verstappen…”

FORMULA 2

A complicated day for Formula 2 with the Sprint Race postponed until after Formula 1 qualifying because of rain. It eventually started on a wet track and then stopped after eight of the scheduled 18 laps and was not restarted. First when the red flag was waved was Zak O’Sullivan (ART Grand Prix), who crossed the line ahead of Dennis Hauger (MP Motorsport) and Richard Verschoor (Trident), and they duly stood on those steps of the podium.

FORMULA 3

A one-two finish in the Sprint race for the PREMA team with Dino Beganovic regaining the lead he lost at the start to team-mate Gabriele Minì on lap 4. The pair fought for almost all twelve laps and the gap only ever grew to over a second on the final lap. On the third step of the podium was Mexico’s Noel Leon (Van Amersfoort Racing), who passed Germany’s Tim Tramnitz (MP Motorsport) on the last lap. The race was run a track that was still damp from overnight rain, although the surface gradually dried and, as a result, the lap times improved from then on.

This was McLaren’s second win of the season, its 185^th in total and the twelfth at the Hungaroring, while their tally of one-two finishes is now 49, the last one dating back to the 2021 Italian Grand Prix when Norris was again second behind an Australian driver, on that occasion Daniel Ricciardo.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

As expected, the Medium was the preferred compound for the start: 13 drivers opted for the C4 for the first stint, while four went with the Soft and three, including Gasly who started from pit lane, chose the Hard. Almost the entire field went with a two-stop strategy, with just three drivers doing something different. While the three-stop delivered no benefit for Ocon and Sargeant, as the final pit stop for Soft tyres came when there was no longer anything to lose, it was a different matter for Tsunoda who was on a one-stop and finished ninth mainly due to his managing the tyres well in both stints, (first for 29 laps on the Medium and then 41 on the Hard). Following their choices made during free practice, the two Aston Martin drivers were locked into planning a strategy using all three compounds in the order Soft/Medium/Hard which yielded just one point courtesy of a tenth place for Stroll, who finished one place ahead of Alonso.

The longest stints (41 on the Hard) were completed by the two Racing Bulls drivers, Ricciardo and Tsunoda, while the longest Medium stint went to Stroll on 31 laps and he also did the most laps (14) on the Soft.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“I think the 310,000 spectators who came to the Hungaroring this weekend and the millions watching on TV and through other channels around the world must have enjoyed themselves. The weekend began like a game of chess and then reached its peak with a very closely contested and open race in which the lead changed hands seven times.

“With temperatures pretty similar to those we had seen in Friday’s second free practice session, the Medium probably turned out to be the most efficient compound overall: if it had not been for the collision with Hamilton, Verstappen would almost certainly have finished third. But the Hard, which was definitely the most used compound, was also competitive, not just on the two Mercedes, but on other cars too. In the end, I think this race once again demonstrated how important it is for the teams to carefully work out which are the compounds best suited to their cars, as well as showing how the current range of tyres lets us see how different strategy choices work out on track. After all, that is actually the main objective set for us every year by the FIA, Formula 1 and the sport’s other stakeholders, namely to provide tyres that are first and foremost a guarantee of the maximum possible safety, while allowing the teams and drivers to exploit their potential to the full. That what we try our best to achieve, not just in Formula 1, but also in the two junior categories, for which we are the sole tyre supplier.”

FORMULA 2

Another spectacular race today, with an impressive win for Andrea Kimi Antonelli (PREMA Racing) who grabbed victory by making the most of the second safety car period. In fact, in the first part of the race, it was a Safety Car that benefited those who had chosen to start on the Soft, such as Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix) who finished second. Antonelli on the other hand had started on the Hard and then made the most of the extra grip from the softer compound, combined with the fact his car was now lighter, so it’s fair to say, his win was not down to luck. On the third step of the podium was Richard Verschoor (Trident), some consolation for losing first place when he was disqualified from yesterday’s Sprint race result.

On the starting grid, there was a perfect Soft-Hard split, with eleven votes each. This was Antonelli’s second Formula 2 win, after victory in the Sprint at Silverstone and it puts him sixth in the Drivers’ classification on 86 points. France’s Isack Hadjar (Campos Racing) still leads despite failing to score today on 140 points, 18 more than Estonian Paul Aron (Hitech Pulse-Eight) who today only picked up the two points that come with pole position.

FORMULA 3

It seemed like a perfect weekend for the ART Grand Prix team, following on from yesterday’s one-two finish in the Sprint with a repeat performance in this morning’s Feature Race, the order inverted from Saturday with Bulgarian Nikola Tsolov first past the flag ahead of team-mate Laurens Van Hoopen. However, the Dutchman was later disqualified for a technical infringement, thus promoting Mexico’s Noel Leon (Van Amersfoort Racing) to second with Leonardo Fornaroli (Trident) third. From a tyre point of view, today’s race was a carbon copy of yesterday’s, with the Hard showing little sign of degradation, allowing drivers to push to their heart’s content. Overheating was also minimal, so that drivers could race close to one another thus delivering more overtaking opportunities.

It was a tough weekend for the three championship leaders, only Luke Browning scoring points (3) while Gabriele Minì and Arvid Lindblad came away empty handed. It means the battle is still on for title honours with just two rounds remaining, at Spa next weekend and then at the season finale in Monza. Minì still leads on 119 points, Browning is second on 115, Lindblad third on 113 with Fornaroli fourth on 112.

On the second row of the grid, we find Max Verstappen in the Red Bull, third in 1’15”273, just 46 thousandths of a second slower than Norris, and Carlos Sainz fourth for Ferrari, 469 thousandths down.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

The weather was very different compared to yesterday. Right from the third free practice session, the temperatures were much lower, especially the track, which was over 20 °C cooler than in FP1. Furthermore, rain put in an appearance just before qualifying and then reappeared occasionally, but the track never got wet enough to require the use of intermediate tyres.

In FP3, almost all the teams focused on preparing for qualifying, running the Soft compound. There were two exceptions: Red Bull Racing who used the Hard, including over a long run and Aston Martin who also used a set of Mediums.

Qualifying did not run particularly smoothly, partly because of the changing weather and partly because of two red flag periods, the first when Sergio Perez went off in Q1 and the second when Yuki Tsunoda crashed in Q3. The Soft was the only compound used and, as expected, peak performance was delivered on the first timed lap. The drop in temperature made it easier for the drivers to manage the C5 on a flying lap, improving the balance of the car across the two axles and reducing overheating of the rear tyres, which was particularly significant yesterday in the final sector.

MARIO ISOLA - PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

 “Once again, here at the Hungaroring, we witnessed a spectacular qualifying, with the first three drivers lapping within 46 thousandths of a second of each other, while there were also several twists and turns. That all points to it being a very closely contested race tomorrow, both right at the front and in the battle for the remaining points. It’s worth noting that, over the course of a year, car performance has increased significantly, given that today’s pole position time is almost one and a half seconds quicker than last year on what is one of the shortest tracks on the calendar.

“In terms of strategy this is a race where the classic two-stop is the clear favourite. On paper, the quickest option is to start on the Medium before then bringing in the Hard. Clearly, the number of available sets of these two harder compounds will determine the teams’ decisions. On that topic, there are three teams – Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari – whose drivers only have one set of new Hard and two of new Medium available, while one, Aston Martin, has one set of new Medium and one of new Hard. All the other teams have at least two sets of Hard and one of Medium.

“Another very important factor to consider will be a return to hotter conditions for tomorrow with the track expected to exceed the 50 °C mark by a considerable margin.”

FORMULA 2

Tyres played an important role in the Sprint Race, with the grid pretty much divided in two when it came to compound choice for the start: 12 drivers went for the Soft and ten for the Hard. The grip advantage from the Soft was clear to see off the line and in the opening laps. For example, from fourth on the grid, Kimi Antonelli (Prema) went into the lead in just a handful of laps, but then with more significant degradation than the Hard, only those who were able to manage the softer compound most effectively, such as Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix) or Dennis Hauger (MP Motorsport), got the best out of it. Others, such as the aforementioned Antonelli, had to pit and were then unable to move back up the order despite being able to count on fresher tyres. Richard Verschoor (Trident) was first past the chequered flag ahead of Kush Maini (Invicta Racing) and Martins. But the Dutchman was disqualified for a technical infringement on his car, promoting Maini to first place, Martins to second with Isaak Hadjar (Campos) now third.

FORMULA 3

Nikita Bedrin made the most of starting from the front row of the grid to claim his first FIA Formula 3 win with the AIX Racing team. The Russian, who races with an Italian license took the chequered flag ahead of his Thai team-mate Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, finishing on the Formula 3 podium for the very first time, thus rounding off a perfect Saturday for the team. Dino Beganovic (PREMA Racing) secured the third step on the podium. As for the tyres, the Hard showed very limited degradation, allowing the drivers to push and fight from start to finish.

Starting in Budapest from 19 to 21 July, it will be the turn of the softest trio, with the C3 as Hard, the C4 as Medium and the C5 as Soft. One week later and the circus moves to one of the most thrilling and demanding tracks on the calendar, namely Spa-Francorchamps, with its wide range of corner types and some major compressions due to changes in gradient. The mid-range compounds will be in use here, with the C2 as Hard, the C3 as Medium and the C4 as Soft. Then it’s on to Zandvoort from 23 to 25 August, a very difficult challenge, featuring two banked corners where the hardest trio of compounds, as used yesterday at Silverstone, will come into play: C1 as Hard, C2 as Medium and C3 as Soft.

Joining Hamilton on the podium were second placed Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) and in third, Lando Norris (McLaren). All three men wore a special edition of the classic Pirelli podium cap, specially made in tweed for the Silverstone round. The cap is on sale here: https://afbmotorsport.com/en/contenido/f1-pirelli-podium-caps-22.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

For Pirelli, this was a very colourful Grand Prix, a four colour one to be precise, as four tyre compounds with their distinctive colour bands were brought into play – red for the Soft, yellow for the Medium, white for the Hard and green for the Intermediate and all four did in fact play an important role in a race where the track switched from dry to wet and back again and with temperatures that varied by around ten degrees depending on what the weather was doing.

The first part featured the Medium, used by 17 drivers on the grid, the exceptions being Ocon and Zhou, who opted for the Soft while, starting from pitlane, Perez went with the Hard. The C2 worked well, because the drivers were able to push even when carrying a full fuel load, while it also enabled them to manage the tricky conditions when the rain started to fall. Furthermore, the Medium ensured greater flexibility as to when to make the first pit stop, given that the threat of rain had made itself felt even before the start.

Then it was the turn of the Intermediate to take centre stage, when the crossover point arrived. Leclerc and Perez had chosen to switch to this tyre early and now found themselves with a set of worn tyres just when the track conditions were most suited to them and they had to come in for a second set. In fact, there was never as much water on track as there had been yesterday in FP3 and that meant this type of tyre was obviously going to wear much more quickly as the track had then dried out. The final part saw all three dry weather compounds compete on equal terms and it was interesting to observe how, especially among the leaders, the various car-driver packages were comfortable with different compounds: Hamilton took the win for Mercedes with the Soft, Verstappen and his Red Bull was quickest on the Hard, while Piastri demonstrated that the Medium could be very competitive on the McLaren.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“We witnessed a very exciting Grand Prix at the end of a very busy weekend, which featured a great show both on the track and in the grandstands. It was a testing weekend for us because we put almost our entire range of tyres to the test in different conditions on one of the toughest tracks of the entire championship calendar.

Right from Friday it was evident that all three dry weather compounds could play an important role in this race and that was confirmed today. In terms of strategy, the pre-race predictions were more or less respected. Leaving aside the rain, the length of the first stint on the Mediums and the performance of the Hard for those like Verstappen and Sainz who used them in the final stint, demonstrated how a C2/C1 combination could be very competitive. Obviously, the C3 suffered a bit more, partly because it was used in push mode towards the end of the race on a track that was still pretty green because of all the rain this weekend.”

FORMULA 2

The Marseillaise rang out from the podium in recognition of a win and the championship lead for Isaak Hadjar. Having started from pole position, Campos Racing’s French driver lost some places off the line but then fought back to cross the finish line in second place. He was then promoted to winner when the American Jak Crawford (DAMS Lucas Oil), who had taken the chequered flag first, was given a five second penalty. That meant second place went to the Barbadian Zane Maloney (Rodin Motorsport). Hadjar now leads the championship on 133 points, 16 more than Paul Aron (Hitech Pulse-Eight), who failed to score at Silverstone, while Maloney is third on 101.

On the tyre front, there was a pretty even split between the Soft and the Hard at the start, with ten drivers preferring the red compound and twelve going for the white. The difference in grip played a key role when it came to overtaking, in favour of the softer tyre, although its performance advantage only lasted five or six laps. As for the Hard, the key was managing graining across the front axle in order to limit degradation.

FORMULA 3

Arvid Lindblad did the double in Formula 3 this weekend, winning the Feature Race this morning, having claimed victory in yesterday’s Sprint. Today’s race was affected by changing weather conditions. As was the case in F2, so too in the junior category the winner was not actually the driver first past the finish line: the chequered flag was waved for Callum Voisin (Rodin Motorsport), who then was given a penalty which dropped him to third. In second place was Gabriele Minì, thus making it a one-two finish for Prema Racing, which puts the Italian in the lead of the championship on 119 points, six more than his team-mate and seven more than Luke Browning (Hitech Pulse-Eight), eighth today. As for the tyres, their performance was dictated by rapid changes in the weather. All things considered, the track conditions were mainly best suited to the slicks and these tyres therefore made the difference, which explains why the top three finishers only used this type of tyre. The various safety car periods often brought those drivers who had started on wet tyres back into the mix, but those who then switched to slicks were able to make up places.

COMING UP NEXT FOR OUR TYRES

The longest season in the history of Formula 1 has reached its midpoint and now there are two more Grands Prix prior to the summer break. They take place in Hungary from 19 to 21 July and in Belgium the following week. On the weekend of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Pirelli will also be working at the eighth round of the WRC, Rally Lithuania and the fourth round of the GT World Challenge America at Virginia International Speedway.

This coming Tuesday and Wednesday, the McLaren, Haas and Williams teams will again be on track at Silverstone for a test session focused on development of tyre constructions and compounds for 2025.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

Today’s third free practice session was one of the coldest since 2011 when Pirelli took on the role of Formula 1’s sole tyre supplier, with air temperature at 11 °C and the track at 13 °C. The record for low temperature goes to the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix (air 10°C, track 11 °C). Rain and wind characterised the 60 minutes of track time, with all drivers using one set of Intermediates each. In these conditions, the tyres struggled a bit in the initial warm-up phase, but after that they performed well, even over quite long stints.

Qualifying provided an opportunity to check the crossover time from ideal conditions for the Intermediates to the point when slicks could be used. In the first part of Q1 all the drivers used one set of new Intermediates before switching to the C3, the one exception being Hulkenberg who used the same set as in FP3.

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to George Russell by Marcus Wandt, an astronaut with the ESA (European Space Agency). Born in Switzerland in 1980, Wandt has over 20 years of experience with the Swedish Air Force as a pilot, commander and test pilot. Back in January, Wandt travelled with the Axiom 3 mission to the ISS (International Space Station) staying in orbit for 20 days, carrying out experiments and research into microgravity.

MARIO ISOLA - PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“It was a very exciting qualifying and provided a crowd-pleasing result with three British drivers in the top three places. In conditions pretty similar to those experienced in last year’s qualifying here, we saw that times have come down by around one second, confirming how much car development has moved on from one year to the next, given that the tyres are completely identical to those used at Silverstone in 2023. Then, when one considers that the grip level on the track surface was definitely not at its best after so much rain had fallen during the day, one can surmise that the cars might have been even quicker!

“Tomorrow, the great unknown will be the weather. If, as forecast, it should rain and the track is wet throughout as was the case in FP3, all the teams have sufficient sets of Intermediates and Wets to run a two-stop race. However, if it’s dry, then a one-stop is quickest on paper, with all three compounds being viable. The C3/C2 strategy is slightly quicker than going from the C3 to the C1, while a strategy without the Soft gives greater flexibility.”

FORMULA 2
Kimi Antonelli took his maiden Formula 2 win in a Sprint race run in difficult conditions, with rain testing the drivers’ skills. There were also several Safety Car periods and even a red flag stoppage. Prema’s Italian driver led the race from start to finish, inexorably upping the pace after the last restart, eventually crossing the line with an eight second lead over second placed Zane Maloney (Rodin Motorsport), while making it to the third step on the podium was Gabriel Bortoleto (Invicta Racing) who passed his team-mate Kush Maini, before picking up a five second penalty which meant he finished behind the Indian driver.

On a very cold and rainy day, with very difficult track conditions, the rain tyres struggled to get up to temperature in the early laps, but were still able to go the distance, despite a red flag and several Safety Car periods. During the interruption, those who had banked on an all-wet race and were able to make ad hoc set-up changes on the car then had a significant advantage in terms of grip.

FORMULA 3
After Formula 1, the Union Jack was also represented on the top step of the podium come the end of the Formula 3 Sprint race. It was delayed until the early evening after being postponed from its morning slot because of heavy rain. Winner of the short distance race was Englishman Arvid Lindblad, leading from start to finish in a race that required a few appearances from the Safety Car. Joining him on the podium were Mexico’s Noel Leon (Van Amersfoort Racing) and the Peruvian Matias Zagazeta (Jenzer Motorsport). Lindblad is now on 88 points and getting closer to the top of the table, having moved just one point ahead of Leonardo Fornaroli. Lindblad is now third, behind Gabriele Mini on 100 points, who finished fifth in this Sprint and leader Luke Browning on 106, despite failing to score today.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

As expected, the most effective strategy was a two-stop: those who did three or more – Verstappen, Leclerc, Alonso and Sargeant – did so for unforeseen circumstances, not by choice. All the drivers lined up on the grid on Medium tyres while, starting from pit lane, Zhou went with the Hard. The C4 and the C3 were the undoubted protagonists of this race, with the C5 only putting in an appearance at the end, used by Verstappen for the last seven laps after his enforced stop and by Alonso, who was trying for the race fastest lap, which he did indeed set. Daniel Ricciardo drove the longest stint of the race, completing a 34 lap third and final stint on the Hard tyre. The prize on Mediums goes to Pierre Gasly who did 29 laps and in this case too, the French Alpine driver did it in his final stint.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“When you least expect it, the sparks fly! The first two thirds of the race were generally linear, it only took a small problem at Verstappen’s second pit stop to bring together on track the two outstanding drivers of this weekend, thus triggering a thrilling on-the-limit duel. It produced a very exciting finale which, in the end, worked out to the benefit of George Russell, who was thus able to secure his second ever Grand Prix win: congratulations to him and to Mercedes! Overall, there was actually a lot of overtaking in this race, some of it very spectacular.

From our side there were no surprises. The tyres behaved exactly as expected, both when compared to the simulations carried out before arriving in Austria and based on the analysis of the data gathered on Friday and yesterday. The strategy predictions were also pretty much respected. Medium and Hard were the main choices for the race. The Medium probably performed a touch better, especially on the more competitive cars. Although they had two sets of Hards available, the Red Bull pair chose the C4 for the third stint, for this precise reason and also to be in the same situation as the competitors they were fighting with in this phase of the race. On the other hand, the C3, which suffered slightly less from degradation, worked well for those who opted to run a very short first stint on the Medium before then exploiting the greater consistency of the white-banded tyres, thus managing to get into the points, as did the Haas pair of Hulkenberg and Magnussen, as well as Ricciardo (Racing Bulls).”

FORMULA 2

Gabriel Bortoleto produced a masterful performance to take his maiden Formula 2 win in an action packed Feature Race at Spielberg. The Invicta Racing driver relieved Joshua Durksen (AIX Racing) of the lead in the early stages before doing a good job of managing his pace and his tyres to take the win ahead of Franco Colapinto (MP Motorsport) and Isack Hadjar (Campos Racing) second and third respectively. Paul Aron still leads the Drivers’ championship on 115 points, 15 more than Jadjar, while Bortoleto moves up to third on 85.

At the start, 13 drivers opted for the Supersoft and nine for the Soft. The softest compound proved to be the winning one, also thanks to a helping hand from a VSC just on the lap when the pit stop window opened, thus reducing the time lost at the pit stop at the point when the Soft was starting to perform better. Furthermore, those who stopped around these laps were able to make the most of lapping with a clear track ahead.

FORMULA 3

Luke Browning had the Spielberg Feature Race under control to take his second win of the season. All race long, the Hitech Pulse-Eight driver fended off the advances of two of the PREMA Racing drivers, Gabriele Minì and Dino Beganovic, who fought over the podium places all the way to the last lap. The win puts Browning into the lead of the Drivers’ championship on 106 points. Minì moves up to second on 95, while Leonardo Fornaroli drops to third with 86.

In this morning’s race, graining began to make itself felt between laps eight and twelve, causing significant degradation and for some, very heavy wear in the closing stages of the race. Those who did the best job of managing the degradation were able to make up places towards the end.

COMING UP NEXT FOR OUR TYRES

This was the busiest weekend of the year for Pirelli, working as sole tyre supplier not only at the Austrian Grand Prix, but also at the 24 Hours of Spa and Rally Poland. Now the Formula 1 season continues apace with the classic British Grand Prix taking place at Silverstone next weekend. Racing around the Northamptonshire track will also be the Formula 2 and Formula 3 cars. That same weekend, there’s another motor racing classic, with the DTM championship round at the Norisring, along with the ADAC GT4, for which once again this year, Pirelli is the sole supplier. And that’s not all, as Pirelli will also be at the European Rally Championship round in Estonia and at Suzuka for the GTWC Asia.

Tomorrow’s front row is identical to that in today’s Sprint. Verstappen, whose best lap was a 1’04”314, will again have McLaren’s Lando Norris (1’04”718) alongside him, while on the second row one finds the Mercedes of George Russell (1’04”840) and the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz (1’04”851).

THE DAY ON TRACK 

Predictably, the Medium proved to be the only choice for the Sprint Race, given that the C3 was selected by all the drivers as the best compound for the 24 lap race. The Sauber pair opted to run a new set, while all the others went with a part worn set. The Medium behaved as expected, providing the teams with plenty of useful data to help plan strategy for tomorrow’s race.

For qualifying, obviously, everyone ran the Softs with a mix between new and used sets, based on availability and how far they progressed through the sessions. The C5 confirmed its excellent performance over a flying lap on the Spielberg track, even with very high track temperatures.

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Max Verstappen by Jason Oppenheim. President and founder of the Oppenheim Group, Jason leads a team that represents buyers and sellers of prime real estate throughout Southern California and has become a star on Netflix as the star of the shows Selling Sunset and Selling the OC, which garnered three Emmy Award nominations.

MARIO ISOLA - PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“Yet another pole for Verstappen, who really seems unbeatable here, especially over a single timed lap, given that this is the seventh consecutive time he has been fastest in qualifying at the Red Bull Ring. Today’s high temperatures, with the track hovering around the 50 °C mark, was an additional difficulty to deal with, but at least it gave teams the chance to try the Medium tyre in these conditions, providing important information regarding strategy. According to our calculations, two pit stops will be required, with a mix of C3 and C4. Clearly, those who chose to use extensively, and therefore give back a set of C3s, will favour the Medium more, while the others will have a greater degree of flexibility. A one-stop is not a realistic choice, not because of tyre wear, but in terms of degradation and pace, although a three-stop could work if there is a Safety Car in the second part of the race, or if degradation is higher than expected. In this case, even the C5 could come into play, albeit not in a major way.”

FORMULA 2

Oliver Bearman won the Sprint Race with an impeccable drive which saw him fend off Josep María Martí (Campos Racing) to take his first win of the season. The PREMA Racing driver took the lead off the line and kept it all the way to the chequered flag. Martí had to settle for second, while Paul Aron (Hitech Pulse-Eight) rounded off the podium trio.

On the tyre front, it was quite a straightforward race. Overheating made itself felt right from the start and the drivers had to pay particular attention to management, especially across the rear axle. Those who wanted, or had to push hard in the opening stages then found themselves struggling a bit towards the end, running the risk of being overtaken.

FORMULA 3

Nikola Tsolov (ART Grand Prix) won the Sprint Race after a three-way fight with Martinius Stenshorne (Hitech Pulse-Eight) and team-mate Christian Mansell. The Bulgarian pulled off an overtaking move in the closing stages just before the Safety Car made its second and last appearance, then fending off Stenshorne at the restart for the final lap to clinch his second win of the year.

The two Safety Car periods, one early on and the aforementioned one towards the end, reduced the race distance. Graining put in an appearance after six or seven closely fought laps, on both the front and rear, which led to an overall drop in pace. A further difficulty at this track, especially in a field with as many cars as Formula 3, is tyre management when in traffic, especially in the fastest corners and that proved to be the case today.

Lewis Hamilton was third, back on the podium for the first time since last year’s Mexican Grand Prix. It means that, every year since his debut in 2007, for 18 consecutive seasons, the seven times world champion has managed to finish in the top three at least once.

This was Verstappen’s 61^st win the fourth at this track, where eight years ago he took his maiden Formula 1 victory. For Red Bull, it is win number 120, the seventh from ten races this season and those numbers mean the Dutchman is responsible for just over half the team’s total number of wins.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

There were no retirements this afternoon, with 11 of the 20 drivers going the full distance, while nine were lapped. All 19 drivers on the grid started on the Soft C3, while Albon who had to start from the pit lane in his Williams went for the C2. The pit stops began as early as lap 9 with Tsunoda, but the leaders waited until lap 15 (Sainz and Russell) to switch to Mediums, with Norris and Leclerc lengthening their stints as much as possible, to lap 23 for the former and 24 for the latter. For the third stint, the Hard also came into play, used by most of the drivers. However, among the leaders, the Soft held sway for the final part of the race, chosen by Verstappen, Hamilton, Leclerc and the McLaren pair. Only Sainz and Russell opted for the Hard.

Just two drivers, Perez and Tsunoda, made three stops, while 12 used all three available compounds: apart from the two already mentioned, the only drivers who did not were Perez, Albon and Bottas. The Finn actually ran the longest stint, doing 37 laps on the Hard, while Zhou topped the list for Medium stints doing 32 laps, and Leclerc managed 24 on the Soft.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“It was a very intense and at times spectacular race and here I’m thinking of Russell’s incredible start, similar to Alonso’s from 2011, and the duels between the aforementioned George, first with Max and then with Lando. The race among the leaders was like a game of chess between the four teams who filled the top eight places, with the moves made up of strategy choices and tyre management. However, from our side it was actually a very linear race. All three compounds performed as expected, both in terms of wear and degradation, despite the fact temperatures were significantly higher than was predicted yesterday. The same can be said for the strategies, when it came to tyre usage and the pit stop windows. Soft and Medium delivered the best performance, while despite the higher temperatures, the Hard struggled a bit in terms of overall performance, while not offering a decisive advantage when it came to degradation.”

FORMULA 2

American Jak Crawford became the tenth different driver to claim a Formula 2 victory this season. The DAMS Lucas Oil driver crossed the line ahead of Argentina’s Franco Colapinto (MP Motorsport) and his team-mate and fellow countryman Juan Manuel Correa, who thus really did make it to the podium for the first time since 2019, having lost his third place in yesterday’s race with a post-race penalty. With 30 points picked up in Barcelona, Crawford moves up to fourth in the Drivers’ standings on 62 points. Paul Aron still leads on 100, from Isaac Hadjar (91) and Zane Maloney (73).

There was a pretty even strategy split on the grid, with ten drivers starting on the hard compound and 12 on the soft one. Once the Hard proved to be quicker, the pit stops began for those who had started on the Soft. The high wear across the front axle, exacerbated by running in traffic, meant that in the closing stages, those on Hards were at risk of being overtaken by the Soft runners, which saw a surge in the number of overtaking moves. For example, that worked to Correa’s advantage, who managed to finish third, while the two other podium finishers had gone for the opposite strategy.

FORMULA 3

This category’s 100^th Feature Race was won by Arvid Lindblad (Prema) who thus completed an amazing double. On lap 5, the English rookie overtook the poleman Christian Mansell (ART Grand Prix) and then took off to clinch the win. That left the Australian on the second step of the podium, while third place went to Italy’s Leonardo Fornaroli (Trident.) His climb up the order to reach the podium was enough to maintain the lead in the Drivers’ championship on 84 points, five more than Luke Browning (Hitech-Pulse Eight), who finished fifth today.

As for tyre performance, degradation was constant all race long: those who had put particular stress across the front axle in the early stages then struggled towards the end, because of particularly severe wear.

Chloe Chambers became the third different winner in this season’s F1 Academy. The American, driving for the Spanish Campos Racing team, with support from Haas, won race 2, making the most of a great start off the line, getting the better of Abbi Pulling (Rodin Motorsport, Alpine). Once in the lead, Chloe comfortably managed the race all the way to the chequered flag. That put an end to Abbi’s string of wins, but she still finished a strong second which means she has consolidated her series lead. The Englishwoman now has 147 points, no less than 66 more than her pursuers led by the aforementioned Chloe and Doriane Pin (Prema, Mercedes) who was fifth today. Hamda Al Qubaisi (MP Motorsport, Red Bull), was a well-deserved third today, having passed Nerea Marti on lap 12, before tailing Pulling all the way to the line.

COMING UP NEXT FOR OUR TYRES

The Formula 1 World Championship calendar is at its busiest right now, with five Grands Prix in the space of six weeks: after Barcelona, it’s the Austrian Grand Prix next weekend, the third round this year to feature the Sprint format. Also this coming weekend, Spa-Francorchamps hosts the Crowdstrike 24 Hours, the most important round of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe. No fewer than 67 cars will be on track, all running Pirelli tyres.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

The third free practice session saw several teams work exclusively on qualifying simulation runs, while others also replicated some parts of the race, running different fuel loads, trying to acquire further data on tyre behaviour and management.

Qualifying confirmed what had already emerged yesterday: on a track as hard on tyres as Barcelona, peak performance comes on the first flying lap and after that, it’s practically impossible to improve. For the race, having a set of new Softs available could be an advantage, especially if fitted for the start.

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Lando Norris by Massimiliano “Max” Sirena, Team Director and skipper of the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. Sirena is a two-time winner of the America’s Cup, in 2010 and 2017, with two wins in the Challenger Series in 2000 and 2021, competitions in which he has taken part in various roles five times before: now he has his sights set on further wins with the new AC75 in Barcelona.

MARIO ISOLA - PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“Another extremely close qualifying, with very small gaps and several teams and drivers looking capable at some point or other of being quickest. With today’s pole for Norris, it means that four teams – Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes and now McLaren – have managed to start from the number one slot on the grid. On a track that is very demanding for the entire car-engine-tyre package, today we saw that performance increases from one year to the next are really significant. Today’s pole time is almost a second quicker than last year’s and over half a second better than the average of the simulations we received from the teams.

As for tyre use in the race, one has to keep in mind the considerable drop in temperatures we saw today, particularly on the track surface, which was around ten degrees cooler than yesterday afternoon. While this drop did not have any significant effect over a flying lap, it could be an important factor tomorrow, even if in fact there is a real chance it might rain. In the dry, that means the Medium and Soft dry compounds offer the best performance. On paper, the quickest strategy does indeed involve the use of two sets of C3 and one of C2. We can rule out a one-stop strategy because it’s too slow, but the idea of a four stint, three-stop race is not so far-fetched, being only a handful of seconds slower than a two-stop. How the drivers manage tyre performance over each stint will also be very important, something which the teams worked on very carefully in the final free practice session.”

FORMULA 2

Victor Martins took victory in the Barcelona Sprint Race, producing a measured drive to secure his first win of the season. The ART Grand Prix driver took the lead as the lights went out and never relinquished it all the way to the chequered flag. After a difficult opening lap, Kush Maini (Invicta Racing) recovered to take a great second place, with Juan Manuel Correa, driving for the DAMS Lucas Oil team, coming home third to stand on a Formula 2 podium for the first time since 2019.

As predicted, tyre degradation made itself felt significantly in the second part of the race. Those who did the best job of managing this were presented with opportunities to move up the order, while those who pushed too hard in the early stages paid the price, some also being penalised for exceeding track limits, especially at turn 13.

FORMULA 3

Local team Campos Racing had a perfect Saturday, with its drivers finishing first and third in a hectic race which saw two appearances from the Safety Car. The win went to Spain’s Mari Boya, his maiden victory in this category, after he fought off the advances of Ireland’s Alexander Dunne (MP Motorsport) at the second restart, with his team-mate Oliver Goethe third with a final sprint that saw the three podium finishers separated by less than a second.

As for the tyres, degradation was generally under control. The two neutralisations obviously helped those who had been particularly aggressive in the early stages, over a long run, but those who opted for better tyre management found overtaking easier.

Abbi Pulling marches on in this second F1 Academy season: today she clinched her fourth consecutive win after the one in Jeddah and two in Miami and she was equally dominant in qualifying. The Rodin Motorsport driver, supported by Alpine led Race 1 in Barcelona from lights out to chequered flag. Alongside the Englishwoman on the podium were second placed Spaniard Nerea Marti (Hilfiger) and the American Chloe Chambers (Haas), these last two swapping places from where they qualified yesterday afternoon.

This was Max’s 60^th Formula 1 win, his third in a row in Montreal and the sixth of the season. It is Red Bull’s 119^th win, the fifth at this Grand Prix.

On the podium, the three drivers and the Red Bull Racing team representative sported a special edition of the classic Pirelli Podium Cap, designed specifically for this edition of the Montreal race. The cap is all-white with the Pirelli logo in red, while on the visor, there’s the typical Canadian Maple leaf, which of course is also part of the national flag seen on the sides of the cap. In fact, the current flag was first raised above the Canadian Parliament building in the capital Ottawa on 15 February 1965. 

THE DAY ON TRACK   

The race got underway on a wet track. 18 drivers opted to start on Intermediates, while the Haas pair went with extreme wets. Indeed, Magnussen and Hulkenberg provided the show in the early stages of the race, as the blue banded Pirelli Cinturato Full Wet offered excellent grip in these conditions, so that both drivers were able to charge up the order, with the Dane even making it as high as fourth place by lap 3, having started 14^th.  However, the track was drying out rather quickly and so the American team’s two drivers were the first obliged to pit for Intermediates, as their lap times had slowed considerably.

Then, in the second part of the race, the green-banded Pirelli Cinturato Intermediate was the tyre to have, as conditions alternated between rain and sunshine with the track drying, especially on the racing line, before getting wet again following another shower. The majority of drivers made the most of the first Safety Car period, forty minutes into the race, to switch to a second set of Intermediates, while a trio made up of Ocon, Tsunoda and Bottas, gambled on their tyres lasting long enough to extend the stint until the track was fit for slicks. Sauber’s Finn went to lap 42, while Alpine’s Frenchman and Racing Bulls’ Japanese driver waited a further two laps. These three were the only drivers to complete the seventy lap race with only the one pit stop.

When slicks were viable, the majority (14) of drivers chose the Medium, thus looking for a better warm-up phase, while five went with the Hard, thinking more about wear, armed with the knowledge that in free practice, the Medium had suffered with graining.

Given the weather over the weekend at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit, it’s no surprise that all tyres, the P Zero White hard, Yellow medium and Red soft, as well as the Cinturato Green Intermediate and the Cinturato Blue full wet, were put to good use. But they were not the only tyres in action, as the Ferrari Challenge P Zero and Ferrari Challenge were used by the cars in the Prancing Horse’s eponymous one-make series, of which Pirelli has been the sole supplier, ever since it was established in 1993.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“What a race! After the Monaco Grand Prix came in for criticism that, objectively, it was not exactly thrilling, Formula 1 answered its critics with an amazing show from the first to the last lap, with three drivers taking turns to lead and a further two also in with a chance of winning. Congratulations to Max for a great win, and also to all the other protagonists of this Canadian Grand Prix, because I reckon that everyone who loves this sport really enjoyed themselves.

“On the tyre front, we were able to see four of the five available types in action. Even the extreme wet, which usually is not used much, proved to be competitive on a low energy track with a lot of surface water. The Intermediate was also able to do very long stints, confirming its suitability for both very wet and almost dry conditions. As for the Hard and Medium, it’s hard to say which worked best as the second Safety Car deprived us of being able to evaluate what might have been the price to pay in terms of degradation for those who had chosen the Medium to ensure more grip in the opening laps when the track was still damp.”

COMING UP NEXT FOR OUR TYRES

After this brief trip to North America, Formula 1 heads back to Europe for a long run of summer races. The first stop is Barcelona, which hosts the Spanish Grand Prix from 21 to 23 June. Prior to that, Pirelli will be running another two day test session, this time at the Mugello circuit on 13 and 14 June, once again with support from Scuderia Ferrari. As was the case last week at Le Castellet, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are on driving duty, this time with the Monegasque tackling the first day and the Spaniard the second.

This is Russell’s second ever pole, following on from the one at the Hungaroring in 2022. In fact, last year a Mercedes was on pole in Hungary, this time with Lewis Hamilton receiving the Pirelli miniature tyre award and today is the Anglo-German team’s 138^th pole, its sixth here in Montreal.

Today the Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Russell by Liza Koshy, the American actress currently appearing in “A family affair,” a new Netflix film with Nicole Kidman and Zac Efron. Having risen to prominence as a Youtuber, Liza made it onto the 2019 Forbes List of the 30 under 30 most promising people in Hollywood and she was also rated by Time magazine as one of the 25 most influential people on the internet.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

The third free practice session was very busy, as it was the first time this weekend that the track was dry throughout the 60 minutes, allowing the teams and drivers to make up, at least in part, for time lost yesterday. Track conditions improved progressively and quickly, with times coming down until they were within less than a second of the predicted pole position based on simulations prior to the event (1’11”7). Most of the work was done using the two softest compounds, with teams carrying out several long runs with a heavy fuel load on the Medium while obviously favouring the Soft for performance runs.

Qualifying got underway on a dry track and even though there were a few drops of rain in the second part, it was not enough to require the use of wet weather tyres. The threat of a downpour weakened the closer the rain got to the circuit and so it didn’t cause any problems during the session. The uncertainty over what the weather had in store meant that the teams and drivers tried to make the most of every segment of the session, doing longer runs than they would in normal conditions.

MARIO ISOLA - PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“It was a very closely contested qualifying from start to finish with the times being incredibly close, evidenced by the fact that the two quickest drivers set identical times, while the top ten featured drivers from six different teams. So far, the weekend has been affected by changing weather conditions and everything would suggest that this will also be the case tomorrow. Even though all of today’s running took place on a dry track, there was still only a very limited amount of data gathered, given that the teams were only able to do long runs in the third free practice sessions.

 “As expected, the track which has been completely resurfaced since last year, is still very green and therefore we saw very obvious evolution. This also led to significant graining, particularly with the Medium, which is the compound that almost everyone used for long runs. Therefore, it is increasingly likely that, if we have a dry race, the most effective strategy is a two-stop, the predominant choice being to use two sets of Hard tyres and that explains why seven teams still have two sets available for each driver. The one-stop strategy, using a combination of Medium and Hard, is possible on paper, but it’s very marginal. It’s not impossible that someone might try to start the race with this in mind, while retaining the flexibility to switch to a two-stop.”

Pirelli’s choices are identical to last year’s: the three hardest compounds in the range (C1, C2 and C3) have been chosen for Barcelona and Silverstone, while the softest (C3, C4 and C5) will be used at the Red Bull Ring. In fact, these were the only logical choices, given that the Spanish and English tracks are among the toughest in terms of stresses exerted on the tyres, because of the many high-speed corners, while the Austrian track, which has very few (10) corners and one of the shortest lap times on the calendar, has quite similar characteristics to Montreal, where the C3, C4 and C5 are the chosen compounds.

Alongside Charles on the podium were Oscar Piastri, second for McLaren, thus equalling his previous best result at last year’s Qatar GP and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who had already finished twice on the podium in Monaco, with two second places in 2021 and 2022.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

For the start, the drivers were split almost equally between the nine who had opted to run the first stint on the Medium, namely Leclerc, Sainz, Norris, Piastri, Albon, Ricciardo, Tsunoda, Zhou and Hulkenberg and the remaining eleven who went with the Hard, those being Perez, Verstappen, Russell, Hamilton, Stroll, Alonso, Ocon, Gasly, Sargeant, Bottas and Magnussen. However, the red flag on the opening lap following a collision between Perez and both Haas drivers, meant that all remaining drivers were therefore absolved of the need to make a pit stop to use two different compounds. Ocon was also unable to take the restart after colliding with his team-mate. It meant that those who had started on the C3 switched to the C4 and vice versa, all of them capable of getting to the chequered flag without stopping. The only exception was Sargeant who kept the same set of Hards that he had used for the first start. There were some pit stops but these only occurred when windows opened in the traffic, so that they could be completed without losing track position. Those who took advantage of this scenario were, in order, Bottas, Stroll, Hamilton, Verstappen and Sargeant, who went from Medium to Hard and Zhou, who switched from Hard to Soft. The only driver to make two stops was Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, but only because he sustained a puncture after hitting the barrier.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

 “First and foremost, congratulations to Charles Leclerc and to Scuderia Ferrari on their win. We can only begin to imagine what it means to Charles to have triumphed on the streets of the city where he grew up!

“On the tyre front, the Monaco race doesn’t usually present many options and today, even those few possibilities were practically wiped out by the red flag on the opening lap. In fact, the race being stopped meant that a pit stop was no longer required, as explained previously. We knew that both the Hard and the Medium could go the full distance if managed properly and that’s what almost all the drivers did. Groups were formed according to what compound they were running and within these groups there were some games of cat and mouse, aimed at getting other drivers to make mistakes, but this never really created any overtaking opportunities, or chances to change strategy to mix things up. Those who did pit, did so “for free,” in other words without losing track position. They were then able to push with a clear track ahead for a little while, lapping as much as whole seconds quicker than those who were managing their tyres. But then, once back in traffic, they had to settle for having a close view of the car in front. This explains why the top ten places never changed from the first to the last lap.”

FORMULA 2

Zak O’Sullivan could not have chosen a better way or a better place to take his maiden Formula 2 win. The ART Grand Prix driver emerged as the surprise winner of the Feature Race thanks to an unusually extreme strategy and a bit of luck. Having started from 15^th on the grid, O’Sullivan extended his first stint as much as possible on the Softs, coming in for his obligatory pit stop on the penultimate lap, just moments before a VSC was called. He was thus able to emerge from pit lane without losing the lead he had inherited as the others had pitted ahead of him. From then on, he simply had to fend off the final assault from Isack Hadjar (Campos Racing) who had thought the win was in his grasp, to take his first win in the category. Third was Paul Aron (Hitech Pulse-Eight) who now leads the Drivers’ classification on 80 points, two ahead of Hadjar and eleven ahead of the previous leader Zane Maloney (Rodin Motorsport) who could only finish tenth today.

The majority of drivers started on the Soft, with the aim of lengthening the first stint as much as possible. This compound performed very well and consistently and only in the very longest stints did it demonstrate any real drop in performance compared to the Supersoft. The purple compound had to be brought in very carefully because there was a risk of triggering graining while warming it up.

FORMULA 3

Gabriele Mini was the class of the field in the Feature Race in Monaco. Prema Racing’s Italian driver led from start to finish in a race that had to be neutralised three times. Mini did a perfect job of managing all the restarts to take his third Formula 3 win, after those in 2023, in the Sprint in Budapest and here in the Feature Race in the Principality. The final result was a fairly faithful replica of the grid order with Mini joined on the podium by Christian Mansell (ART Grand Prix) and Luke Browning (Hitech Pulse-Eight). The win has promoted Mini to the top of the standings on 72 points, four more than Browning and eight more than Leonardo Fornaroli, who finished fifth today.

As for how the tyres performed, the first point to note is that the race was run in considerably cooler conditions than previous days, as it started at 8 am. That meant warm-up was inevitably slower while degradation, both front and rear, became significant after eight laps, because of the appearance of some graining, although it was pretty manageable. The many Safety Car periods and the difficulty of overtaking at this track meant that not much happened during the race.

COMING UP NEXT FOR OUR TYRES

After two races in Europe, Formula 1 crosses the Pond once more for the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, in the province of Quebec, from 7 to 9 June. It’s been an historic fixture on the Formula 1 calendar since 1967. Before heading for Canada, Pirelli has two days of testing planned this coming Tuesday and Wednesday at Le Castellet’s Paul Ricard circuit in France. This time, Scuderia Ferrari is the team involved, with their race drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz sharing driving duties. On test will be new solutions in terms of compounds and construction for both slick and wet weather tyres.

The front two rows of the grid will feature two Ferraris and two McLarens tomorrow afternoon. Alongside Leclerc (1’10”270) will be Australia’s Oscar Piastri (1’10”424). Behind them will be Spain’s Carlos Sainz (1’10”518) and Englishman Lando Norris (1’10”542).

THE DAY ON TRACK 

As always happens at this very unusual track, the third free practice session was given over almost entirely to finding the cars’ maximum performance, because of how important qualifying is in deciding the outcome of the race. That can also be seen from looking at the tyre usage chart, with only Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll using anything other than the Soft, specifically the Medium, for one actual run.

Obviously, everyone used the C5 throughout qualifying and it proved capable of delivering a good level of performance even over longer runs than are usually seen in the grid deciding session.

It’s worth noting the different approaches that teams and drivers adopted when it came to preparing the tyres for the timed lap, with some choosing to do an additional preparation lap, confirming a trend that had emerged yesterday, even in higher temperatures than in the first two free practice sessions.

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Charles Leclerc  by the English actor, Nicholas Galitzine, best known for playing the role of Prince Harry in “Red White and Royal Blue” and the son George in the “Mary and George” miniseries alongside Julianne Moore. Currently, he is in the limelight starring alongside Ann Hathaway in “The Idea of You” available on Amazon Prime.

MARIO ISOLA - PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“In Monaco, much of the excitement is usually to be experienced on Saturday and once again, in this 70th edition of the race, that proved to be the case. The 60 minutes to decide the grid were very intense and uncertain right to the very last moment. Congratulations to Leclerc for his third pole at his home race, but also to the other 19 drivers because seeing them fly around these streets brushing the guardrails is always breath-taking. Leclerc was already quickest yesterday and today he repeated that performance, but it was still a close fight, with three different drivers topping the time sheets in the three segments that make up the session and the time differences were very small, as can be seen from the fact that the top 15 in Q1 were all covered by less than four tenths of a second.

“From a technical point of view, the C5 proved it can perform very well on a track like this one and with this type of surface. Compared to last year’s qualifying, the times are noticeably quicker, pole by over a second, which is also quicker than the simulations provided by the teams (1’10”500).

“We have had plenty of excitement today and now we can expect a race that should have a fairly predictable outcome with a one-stop strategy pretty much obligatory, featuring the Medium and Hard tyres. Those who opt to start on the C3 will aim to extend the first stint as much as possible, hoping for an eventual Safety Car to give them a cheap pit stop in terms of time taken. In fact, it’s quite difficult to predict the ideal pit stop window as that will depend on whether or not incidents on track create any opportunities. But in theory, they would be between laps 25 and 35 for those on a Medium-Hard strategy and between 45 and 55 for those running Hard-Medium. We have less than 24 hours to wait to see if this turns out to be the case.”

FORMULA 2

Taylor Barnard took his first ever win in the FIA Formula 2 Championship thanks to a great drive which saw him keep the lead from start to finish in the Sprint Race, giving AIX Racing its first victory in this category. The British driver fended off the attentions of Gabriel Bortoleto (Invicta Racing), even in the tense closing stages when the race was red flagged, having previously witnessed the use of a physical and virtual Safety Car, when Zane Maloney (Rodin Motorsport) and Kush Maini (Invicta Racing) tangled at Rascasse on lap 22. Bortoleto thus secured his second consecutive podium, after finishing second in the Imola Feature Race while Dennis Hauger (MP Motorsport) was third. As for the tyres, it is worth noting that eleven drivers made the most of the red flag in the closing stages to switch to the Supersoft in the hope of making up some places at the restart, but it didn’t pay off for them given that the Soft proved still quick enough and the performance delta to the softest compound was not enough to make overtaking a realistic possibility.

FORMULA 3

Nikola Tsolov (ART Grand Prix) took his maiden Formula 3 win in the Monaco Sprint Race, making the most of starting from the pole position. MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz finished second after passing Tsolov’s team-mate, Laurens van Hoepen on the opening lap and then fending off the attentions of those behind all race long, thus relegating the Dutchman to the third step of the podium. The race was red flagged shortly after the start and was again neutralised around half-distance, which made life a little tricky for the drivers during the tyre warm-up phase. Those who did the best job of managing this then enjoyed the benefit of lower degradation, although it didn’t make much difference in terms of track position given the difficulty of overtaking here.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

15 drivers lined up for the start on the Medium tyre. Three, Perez, Sargeant and Zhou, opted for the Hard, while Alonso, starting from pit lane and Gasly, took a gamble on the Soft. As widely predicted it was a one-stop race, with Medium and Hard the favourite choices. Starting on the Softs simply did not pay off, both the above mentioned drivers having to make an additional stop. With three laps to go, Aston Martin’s Spanish driver fitted another set of Softs, probably with the aim of setting the fastest race lap, but this actually went to George Russell who also made an extra stop on lap 52 with this in mind, thus bringing Mercedes the extra point. The prize for the longest stint of all goes to Valtteri Bottas (Sauber) who is no stranger to this exercise. He completed 54 of his 62 laps on the C3, while Kevin Magnussen (Haas) and Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) topped the laps on the C4, extending the first stint to lap 37.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“A very close race, for the most part without any particularly exciting moments, but it livened up towards the end as Norris closed on Verstappen. On an old style track like Imola, overtaking has always been difficult and this year was no exception. A strategy based on a single stop was, as predicted, the quickest and was adopted by the majority, with the first stint run on the Medium and the second with the Hard. Both compounds worked quite well despite the fact that, especially at the front of the field, the drivers pushed practically all race long, with track temperatures oscillating between 43 and 50 °C, even if there were a few clouds overhead.

The predicted pit stop window proved to be accurate: in fact, those who stopped very early then found themselves struggling towards the end. Actually, degradation was not very high because there were few signs of graining.

Finally, I must congratulate the wonderful crowd at Imola who were as passionate as ever, once again putting on a great show in the grandstands which I’m sure the drivers and teams enjoyed.”

FORMULA 2

Isack Hadjar (Campos Racing) won the Feature Race at Imola, his second victory of the season, at the end of pretty close race. In the closing stages, the Frenchman had to defend in fine style from the advances of Brazil’s Gabriel Bortoleto (Invicta Racing). Germany’s Joshua Durksen (AIX Racing) was third, thus standing on a Formula 2 podium for the very first time. The Drivers’ championship is hotting up as Zane Maloney failed to score today, but he still leads with 68 points, although now only five ahead of Paul Aron (63) with Hadjar up to third on 59.

Most of the drivers, 16 of the 22, opted to start on the Supersoft because given the high chance of a Safety Car, they preferred not to attempt a very long first stint. As things turned out, the Safety Car never left the FIA pit garage… As predicted, the softest compound was already showing a high level of degradation after only five or six laps, compelling all those who had gone for it to make a pit stop as soon as allowed in the regulations, while the Medium performed best over a longer distance.

FORMULA 3

France’s Sami Meguetounif (Trident) was first past the flag in the Feature Race in Imola to secure his maiden FIA Formula 3 win, after starting from third on the grid. Oliver Goethe led the middle part of the race but the Campos Racing driver was unable to repeat his win in yesterday’s Sprint. By finishing third today, Leonardo Fornaroli (Trident) now leads the Drivers’ Championship: the Italian has 52 points, three more than Luke Browning and seven more than Dino Beganovic and Gabriele Minì.

As for the way the tyres performed, as expected high degradation was a factor in the race, with graining starting to manifest itself before half-distance. The key to success for the front runners was in fact their ability to manage tyre performance in the opening laps so as to still be able to push and fight in the closing stages.

COMING UP NEXT FOR OUR TYRES

The European leg of the Formula 1 season is back in action immediately next week with another classic event, the Monaco Grand Prix. As was the case in Imola, the two junior categories, Formula 2 and Formula 3 will also be racing on the streets of Monte-Carlo.

Therefore the choices are identical to last year, because the compounds themselves have remained the same. Actually, this trio of the softest compounds was never put to the test in Imola last year, as the event was cancelled at the last minute, because of flooding in the Romagna area. In 2022, the only time the 18” Pirellis have been used at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, the available compounds were the C2 as Hard, the C3 as Medium and the C4 as Soft. This year’s event, from 17 to 19 May will reveal if the softer approach will produce a wider range of strategy choices than in past years, on a track where overtaking is notoriously rather complicated.

For Monaco and Montreal, the softer compounds were the obvious choice given the smooth asphalt to be found at these two street circuits, and this approach has been tried and tested over the past few years.

Carlos Sainz finished third, making it his third podium finish in as many race starts this year, after he missed Jeddah with appendicitis. For his Ferrari team it was a 25^th Japanese Grand Prix podium, a total only beaten by McLaren’s 27.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

For the start, there was a pretty even split between the 20 drivers in terms of those who opted for the Medium (all in the top ten except Alonso, plus Ricciardo, Tsunoda and Zhou) and those who went with the Soft. However, the red flag on the opening lap meant that seven drivers – the Mercedes and Alpine pairs, Sargeant, Tsunoda and Zhou – all took the opportunity to switch compounds. The Mercedes duo went from Medium to Hard, both Alpines and Sargeant in the Williams went from Soft to Medium, Tsunoda (Racing Bulls) and Zhou (Sauber) from Medium to Soft.

The restart meant the race was effectively shortened by two laps, with the original opening lap and the one to the grid for the second start still valid. Teams thus went for various strategic options both in terms of the number of pit stops and in their use of the available compounds. The most used was the C1 (545 laps, 60%), with the C2 next (281 laps, 31%) with not much in the way of difference in terms of degradation. While the Hard and Medium were the most popular, the Soft (81 laps completed, 9% of the total) also had a role to play, either at the start or in the closing stages, despite it demonstrating significant degradation.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“I think once again today, Formula 1 proved to be a very spectacular form of racing. On one of the most demanding tracks for drivers and cars, we witnessed a race with plenty of overtaking, where a variety of strategies were brought into play, thanks in part to all three of the compounds we chose for this round being up to the job in hand. This allowed drivers to choose from different options, both in terms of switching compounds and in when to make the pit stops.

“While it’s true that, once again, Red Bull and Max Verstappen had the edge which allowed them to secure the win with relative ease, behind them there were some great battles, not just on track but also between the teams on the pit wall.

“Today, was the hottest day of the weekend, with a track temperature at the start of 40 °C which then dropped to 32 °C and so thermal degradation was significant and those who did the best job of managing it were able to make up various places from where they started: here I’m thinking chiefly of Leclerc who drove an exceptional race in this respect, because his one and only stop saw him go from eighth to fourth. The undercut proved to be very effective, but it’s a fact that those who stopped too early were then at a disadvantage in the closing stages of each stint. All these variables created performance differences that facilitated overtaking, which was great for the spectators. Indeed, the fans that packed out Suzuka all weekend-long really added to the show and it was great to see them able to celebrate a tenth place finish for local hero Yuki Tsunoda.”

COMING UP NEXT FOR OUR TYRES

The fifth round of the World Championship takes place in Shanghai from 19 to 21 April, with Formula 1 returning after a five year break, 20 years on from when it first appeared on the calendar back in 2004. Shanghai hosts the first Grand Prix of the year to run to the new Sprint format (free practice and Sprint qualifying on Friday, Sprint Race and qualifying on Saturday and the actual Grand Prix on Sunday). Pirelli has chosen three compounds from the middle of the range: C2 as Hard, C3 as Medium and C4 as Soft.

There is one more task prior to Shanghai as, this coming Tuesday and Wednesday, Suzuka hosts the third Pirelli test session of the season, aimed at development of compounds and constructions for 2025. Supporting the sport’s sole tyre supplier in this delicate and important task will be Sauber, running Valtteri Bottas on both days and Racing Bulls, who will run Daniel Ricciardo on the first day and Yuki Tsunoda on the second.

It was the Spaniard’s third win and his twentieth podium finish, while for his Ferrari team it was win 244 and its 86th one-two. It was also the second for the Sainz-Leclerc pairing, the first coming at the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix when they took the chequered flag in the reverse order.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

All three compounds chosen by Pirelli for this Grand Prix were in use on the starting grid: 14 drivers went for the Medium, three (Hamilton, Ricciardo and Zhou) opted for the Soft and two (Alonso and Hulkenberg) the Hard. As predicted the most popular strategy was the two-stop, running Medium-Hard-Hard. Ocon was the only driver to make three stops but that was forced on him by the need to make a very early first pit stop to remove a visor tear-off from a brake duct.

After making the briefest of appearances in FP3, only for scrubbing-in purposes, the C3 was the most popular choice today, used for almost 80% of the race distance by the 19 drivers on track with this compound. Graining continued to be an important factor and, as expected, this phenomenon did not diminish even though it was much hotter than in previous days and on a track that got increasingly rubbered-in. Significant graining was also evident on the Hard which was never used on the first two days, but nevertheless it was manageable. In terms of stint length, George Russell’s second stint ran to 37 laps on the C3 and Fernando Alonso did 24 on the C4.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“First of all, congratulations to Carlos Sainz and everyone at Ferrari for this one-two which once again demonstrated that in such a competitive sport, where technology is pushed to the limit, one can never take anything for granted. I’ve got nothing against Max and Red Bull, but clearly a new name on the list of winners, after two years of almost total dominance is good for Formula 1 as a whole, as is the fact that the top four drivers in the classification are covered by just eleven points.

As for the race, it showed that our decision to bring a trio of softer compounds here compared to last year was the right one. Today’s race was busier compared to recent years, with tyre management making the difference. For example, one of the keys to Sainz’s success was the ability to lengthen the first stint on the Mediums, which then gave him the edge over his closest pursuers, as the two sets of Hards he used in the second and third stints were fresher. Yes, Carlos was able to drive a good part of his first stint with a clear track ahead of him, while his team-mate for example was in traffic, sandwiched between the two McLarens. All the same, Leclerc managed to overtake Norris precisely because he had stopped first and was able to better exploit the performance of new Hard tyres in the opening laps of his second stint.

In general, graining was the leitmotif of the weekend, but it was not problematic in terms of tyre performance and in the end, those who did the better job of managing them had the upper hand.”

FORMULA 2

Isaak Hadjar got his revenge in the Melbourne Feature Race. The Frenchman was stripped of the win in yesterday’s Sprint with a post-race penalty but the Campos Racing driver fought back in the longer race, profiting from making the obligatory pit-stop under the VSC caused when Hauger went off track, before the race was actually neutralised. That left Hadjar on track as the first driver who had started on the Supersoft and so he found himself leading when those who had started on the Medium had to pit to change tyres. Alongside him on the podium in second place, the Estonian Paul Aron (Hitech), and Zane Maloney (Rodin) third. The Barbadian still leads the championship on 62 points, 14 points ahead of Aron and 21 in front of Norway’s Dennis Hauger (Prema).

As predicted, the majority of drivers opted to start on the Supersoft for just a handful of laps, given its high degradation level, before switching to the Medium. While the VSC in the early stages helped those on the Medium, the race being neutralised at half-distance pretty much ruined their strategy, because at that point it was too early to pit and the advantage they had built up was wiped out.

FORMULA 3

Dino Beganovic (Prema) took his maiden Formula 3 victory in the second race in Melbourne. The Swedish Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy driver started from third on the grid and came out on top at the end of an unpredictable race, getting the better of the Italian duo of Leonardo Fornaroli (Trident) e Gabriele Minì (Prema), who had both started from the front row. The other contender fighting at the front was the British driver Luke Browning (Hitech) who came home fourth, enough to maintain the lead in the Drivers’ standings, even though he has the same number of points – 37 – as Fornaroli.

On the tyre front, the cool conditions in Melbourne this morning definitely didn’t help with warm-up. Managing degradation was slightly easier than in Saturday’s race, given that graining appeared two to three laps later and did not increase over the race distance. Again, compared to the first race, the grip level was slightly better.

COMING UP NEXT FOR OUR TYRES

Formula 1 is back in action in a fortnight’s time when the Japanese Grand Prix takes place from 5 to 7 April at Suzuka. At the classic Honda-owned track, the trio of compounds will be the same as in Bahrain, namely the C1 as Hard, the C2 as Medium and the C3 as Soft. To see the Formula 2 and Formula 3 cars back in action one must wait until 17 – 19 May in Imola, on the same weekend as the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen now has 56 wins to his name and he also secured his one hundredth podium finish from 187 Formula 1 Grand Prix starts, a success rate of 53.48%. It was Red Bull’s 115^th win, its 30^th one-two finish from 371 Grand Prix. The first two races have yielded the Austro-Anglo team 87 of the 88 points available. The only one that escaped them was the point for fastest race lap in Saudi which went to Charles Leclerc. 

THE DAY ON TRACK   

On the starting grid, 18 of the 20 drivers opted to run the first stint on Medium tyres, the only exceptions being Oliver Bearman and Valtteri Bottas who preferred the Soft. The Safety Car came out on lap 7 after Lance Stroll hit the barriers, triggering a run of pit stops. Only four drivers – Norris, Hamilton, Hulkenberg and Zhou – decided to stay out on the Medium, delaying their stop as much as possible. As from lap 30, this quartet began to pit: Hulkenberg on lap 33, Hamilton on 36, Norris on 37, while Zhou went all the way to lap 41. The Haas driver was the only one to fit Hard tyres, with the other three going for Soft to try and make up some places, although they did not manage it. Of the drivers who saw the chequered flag, only Bottas made two stops (Soft-Hard-Soft).

MARIO ISOLA - DIRECTOR PIRELLI MOTORSPORT   

 “It’s been a very straightforward race, both in terms of the final result, which was almost a carbon copy of Sakhir and when it comes to how the tyres performed. We knew this would be a race where the quickest strategy was a one-stop. Obviously, the Safety Car after seven laps brought forward the pit stop window. The C2 proved to be very consistent, both in terms of performance and degradation, as can be seen from the fact that the fastest lap of the race came right at the end courtesy of Leclerc on a set that had done 43 laps. The C3 was also up to the task, because the four drivers who chose to stay out when the Safety Car appeared, were able to take it all the way to its wear limit while still running pretty competitively.  Compared to Friday’s long runs, graining on this compound was minimal, which was down to the track gradually rubbering in more and more with use. Hamilton’s and Norris’ stints on the C4 also demonstrated that the softest compound we had here could be competitive even in the first part of the race, although only two drivers tried to exploit that.”

Enzo Fittipaldi (Van Amersfoort) won the Feature Race. The Brazilian came out on top in a race with several Safety Car periods. Alongside him on the podium in finishing order were India’s Kush Maini (Invicta) and the Norwegian Dennis Hauger (MP Motorsport). In terms of tyre use, predictably almost all the drivers, (17 of the 21) opted to start on the Supersoft to use it for the minimum number of laps, given the level of degradation at this track, before pitting for the Medium. Of those who went the opposite way, the best finisher was Amaury Cordeel (15 laps on the Medium and 13 on Supersoft) on his way to fifth place, keeping his hopes of a podium alive for quite a while.

The surprise of the day came after the chequered flag, with Doriane Pin, who had been first across the line, given a 20 second penalty because she inadvertently did an extra lap, thus taking the flag twice. This dropped her to ninth, which handed the win to Abbi Pulling (Alpine), who was followed home by Maya Weug (Ferrari) and Nerea Martì (Hilfiger). The English driver thus leaves Jeddah leading the championship on 44 points, 11 more than Weug and 12 ahead of Pin. The next round for the F1 Academy is in Miami from 2 to 5 May.

COMING UP NEXT FOR OUR F1 TYRES  

Formula 1 will be back on track in a fortnight’s time in Melbourne, where the Australian Grand Prix will run to the conventional Thursday to Sunday programme. For the Albert Park street circuit, Pirelli is bringing the C3-C4-C5 compounds, a trio one step softer than last year. The two junior series, of which Pirelli is the tyre supplier, Formula 2 and Formula 3, are also racing there.